NGE: Trials
by Pseudo-Dream
Summary: 7 years after 3I. Third Impact has been averted, but more of the dead sea scrolls have been deciphered, fortelling something far worse than SEELE had planned. Will we survive the trials? Or will we return to whence we came...
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Notes**

**Disclaimer**: If I owned it would I really be doing this? Probably but still I don't own the series, characters, weapons, vehicles, colours or odours used in this story. I do however own the word grbh. A word which one day replace every other word in existance

except for pie....you cant replace pie....yet.

Please review, comment or hurl cream pies if you want, but without reviews the chances of my writing style getting better are about zilch, so on that note, **CONTRUCTIVE** criticism or just reviews, ideas and such only.......flames are pretty much useless and not wanted........unless I have a BBQ

also looking for a pre reader(s) for the rest of this story, possible future stories and someone to toss ideas around with, always better to have another set of eyes......what would I do if I had four eyes? Hmmm.

~Pseudo

* * *

Asuka swore as she looked at the screens all around her.

Less than an hour into the inspection of the new NERV German base, they had been attacked by a hundred people geared up like the local rebels, P.L.F, or the Peoples Liberation Force. Why all these rebel groups choose names to do with liberation and freedom whilst their objective was complete power was a concept that still amused her college graduate mind.

But the situation now was far from amusing.

NERV had 130 civilian personal on the base, workers and technicians pushing themselves as hard as they could to get the new base up and running, while at the same time just twenty five soldiers to defend it, ten of which had just arrived as her body guards.

Now they only had seven soldiers left.

Asuka cursed again, sparing a glance around the room, looking briefly into the eyes of the three bridge bunnies she brought with her, seeing the fear and determination as they looked to her to save them.

Today, she decided, was not a good day to be the Sub-Commander.

"Maya, any luck getting through to central command?" Asuka kept her voice calm and controlled, it wouldn't help to scare those left around her further than they already were.

"No Ma'am, our link with the MAGI was cut as soon as the attack started, I don't even know if our distress call got out in time." Maya's fingers danced across the keyboard, trying vainly to find another connection to the MAGI.

"Ma'am, those two radar marks are ten minutes away, they haven't answered our calls but they are definitely coming right for us." Shigeru reported, his voice barely restraining the fear he felt.

"Sub-Commander, Captain Ayanami reports they are unable to stand their ground any longer and is withdrawing to the command room. She also reports that two more friendly KIA's." Makoto relayed.

Asuka watched on the main screen as a bluenette figure led four others through the corridors, stopping every now and then for fiddle with something on the ground as they made their way towards the command room. 'This is just like seven years ago...same shit different day I suppose.'

A few seconds later and the heavy automatic door retracted revealing a slightly dirty Rei Ayanami, dressed in a business style suit cut wide at the shoulders with a Kevlar vest over her lithe torso and an MP5/10 in her hands. Striding up to Asuka she offered a quick salute before turning to face the monitors, a small smirk gracing her normally stoic face as she watched the rebels charge through where she just was, one of them tripping the claymores they left behind.

"How are we doing out there Wondergirl?" Asuka's eyes never left the monitors, her mind churning out possible outcomes for the fight, none of them ending without shitty funeral music.

"We have four remaining soldiers who are currently setting up a temporary barricade. We have managed to kill around thirty five enemies before withdrawing." Rei replied, her monotonous voice offered little comfort.

"Ma'am, those two aircraft are three minutes out, we won't have a visual until they're right on top of us."

"Scheisse!" At least 90 rebels in the base, with more possibly on the way and all she had between them and her was four soldiers and a steel door. "Scheisse!"

"I believe the term is, 'were screwed', is it not?" Rei moved back towards the door, preparing to go out and join the others in their defense of the command room.

"Really not the time for your poor sense of humor Wondergirl!" Asuka pulled her own SIG P226 pistol out of its old leather holster and chambered a round. "Might as well try to take as many of them with us as we can." Slipping on her own vest she faced the bridge bunnies. "You three stay here and keep trying to get in touch with NERV! And someone find out who the hell owns those planes!" She ordered walking towards the door, muffled shouting and gunshots coming from the other side.

Rei and Asuka sparred a brief look at each other before opening the door separating them from ensuing firefight.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

Above the conflict, skimming just over the tree canopy were two midnight black, sleek VTOL aircraft. If someone looked down on them from space they would assume that the two VTOL's were nothing more than shadows drifting across the earth.

In the belly of one of the VTOL's sat six soldiers, all clad combat gear the same color as the VTOL's. The silence in the heavy silence in the hold broken by the muffled roaring of the engines.

"Alright ladies, ETA is two minutes." The pilots voice crackled through their earpieces and as one each of them picked up their rifles and checked their gear over, preparing themselves for the fight.

Only two things stood out from darkened visage.

Silver anti-flash goggles wrapped around each of their heads, protecting their eyes.

And a small patch on each of their right arms.

A dog with pointed ears, holding a knife with bared fangs.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

The heavy steel door slid into the roof and Asuka got her first good look at the fight, one word came to mind as she surveyed the corridor.

_'Fuck!'_

Just outside of the steel door to the command room was a temporary barricade made out of anything they could find, steel crates, wooden pallets and even a wheelbarrow. Manning the barricade were three soldiers, each taking turns in firing down the long corridor at their assailants. Asuka looked down at her feet and stared at the corpse of the fourth NERV soldier, a ragged red hole where his nose should have been.

"RPG!" Asuka was brought back to reality as one of the NERV soldiers yelled, moving her eyes up to look down the corridor-

-and the RPG heading right for them!

The soldiers around her dived behind the barricade, hoping that it would hold back the explosion while Asuka, standing in the doorway came to a realization.

_'Its too late, I can't move!' _The world slowed down through her eyes as the rocket approached. Strangely her life did not flash before her eyes like she had heard from other soldiers and from movies, instead she saw the three most important people in her life.

Her former guardian and current Supreme Commander of NERV, Misato Katsurgi. After the aborted third impact attempt NERV had been at the very centre of a massive global inquest. After months of trials, arrests, interrogations and accusations the majority of the NERV staff were acquitted from taking part in the plans of both Gendo Ikari and the SEELE council as they had no idea of the true intentions behind NERV. Gendo Ikari and SEELE were executed two days after their arrests for hundreds of crimes, the most prominent of which is the attempted global genocide they planned to carry out.

A year after the aborted Third Impact, NERV was reclassified as a UN sanctioned military organization with the job of stopping the wars taking place across the globe as a result of the second impact. Misato was promoted to Supreme Commander of NERV for her actions during the JSSDF assault and as soon as Asuka woke from her coma, she was made Sub Commander, a fact that only added fuel to the fire that was her now tamed, yet vicious ego. Their first order of business was that the Evangelions be disassembled and destroyed.

Rei Ayanami, another of the most important people in Asuka's life had drastically changed after death of Gendo Ikari. Believing that her purpose was robbed from her she tried to commit suicide just as Asuka had come to visit her. Having barely made it in time and saving the blue-haired girl's life the two reconciled with each other over their actions during the Angel wars and started on a path to what is now a very deep friendship. Although Asuka still called her wondergirl, more of a nickname now than an insult.

Rei joined the revamped Section Two and quickly climbed through the ranks until she became its new head, proving to be one of, if not the best combatant and tactician that NERV had.

The last and most important person to Asuka was the one she hadn't seen for seven long years and more often than not the central focus of her thoughts.

Shinji Ikari.

After the aborted third impact the young Ikari disappeared completely from everyone's scope. No one had been able to figure out what had happened to the boy regardless of the two years and millions of Yen spent looking for him.

Everyone just assumed that he had died during the final battle with the EVA series.

Everyone except for her, Misato and Rei.

When she awoke from her coma the very first thing she wanted to do was to apologize to Shinji for everything she had put him through, the abuse, the insults and everything in-between. To this day she still refused to believe that he was dead, instead believing that he was still alive and living out his life peacefully somewhere.

She was shaken out of her pre-death musings as a hand grabbed the back of her vest and with a mighty yank pulled her back through the door into the command room.

Her world sped up again as she fell backwards, her eyes widening in shock as the RPG screamed right through where she was standing and slammed into the far wall of the command room!

Concrete and dust blasted out in all directions as the tech's screamed, luckily the blast missed them.

Asuka looked up to find Rei clutching her vest, barely panting from the exertion of dragging her through the door.

"Now is not the time to be spacing out Sub Commander."

"Spacing...out? I wasn't spacing out!" Asuka yelled freeing herself from Rei's grasp and getting back up to her feet. The gunfight out in the corridor started up again, three more NERV soldiers falling under the rebel's barrage. "Scheisse! Get in here!"

The final NERV soldier fired a short volley down the corridor before getting up and dashing to the steel command door, he was nearly there-

-when twenty bullets slammed into his back, killing him instantly!

Rei watched and mentally screamed at the loss of another of her soldiers. Locking her emotions away again she wasted no time running up to the steel door and slamming her fist on the control panel next to it.

The heavy steel door dropped down from the ceiling and hit the ground, a loud clicking noise signaling it was locked.

Turning back around Rei looked into Asuka's face, her friend's expression showing that they were now well beyond screwed.

"Ma'am, we have a visual on the incoming aircraft." Makoto was caught between getting the concrete dust out of his eyes and watching the monitors.

"Show me." Asuka started to run scenarios of who the aircraft might belong to, _'Not like it will make much difference, either way you cut it were up shits creek without a paddle and getting chased by nymphomaniac leprechauns.' _She shuddered slightly, her hatred of the little green abominations stemming from one of Misato's St Patrick's Day parties.

A camera feed from the top of the base showed up on the cracked screen, showing two identical VTOL's lazily circling the surface of the base slowly, each of them giving off an ominous aura. Neither bore any markings showing who they belonged to, but it was clear to everyone in the room that they weren't with the rebels.

Unless the rebels made it a habit to fire at their own people.

The VTOL's, for their part just kept making slow laps of the base, ignoring the gunfire directed at them from below. They were just completing their third round of the base when it happened.

_Pandemonium._

Both VTOL's fired with shocking intensity from three gun-pods each, a stream of hyper-velocity tracer fire streaking through all of the rebels on the ground!

The rebels scattered, yelling and screaming as the fingers of death roamed through them, turning the rebels into hamburger.

Some of the made it within a few feet of the tree line just as two of the tracer lines raked through them, making the message clear for the rest.

_Don't go that way._

Left with no where to go the remaining rebels, twenty out of the hundred stationed outside ran into the NERV base, going deep into the complex in the hopes of evading their own death.

Everyone in the command room watched in morbid fascination as the two VTOL's, now more like terrifying angels of death continued to their massacre, their guns sweeping across the ground.

"This is either incredibly good, or incredibly bad." Asuka thought aloud, too stunned by the display to think of anything else.

"Er...Ma'am, I've established a connection with the MAGI, the Commander wants to talk to you." Maya tried her best to ignore the main screen, the sight making her stomach weak.

"Put her on the speakers." Garbled static could be heard over the speakers for a few moments.

"Asuka?!" Misato's voice screeched through the speakers, deafening everyone.

"Dammit Misato! Not so _**fucking**_ loud!" Asuka screeched back, Rei smirked slightly as the irony was lost on her flame haired friend. "Maya, patch through our video to central."

"Already done Ma'am."

"Good." Asuka turned back to the main view screen, watching as the two VTOL's finished up the stragglers and as quickly as they started, ceased firing and began to circle again. "What the hell is going on Misato?!"

"We don't know. About an hour ago every NERV base across the globe, excluding central came under heavy attack. So far the African and Chinese branches have been overrun and we've had no choice but to remotely detonate them." A sigh and some faint slurping could be heard from the other end of the line...

"Now whats happening there?" Misato asked, her voice pitched slightly.

"Short or long version?"

"Short." _'God I need a Yebisu right now. Or twenty.'_

"Were getting fucked in the ass with a pineapple." Asuka said simply.

"Maybe a little longer than that." Misato replied, shuddering at the horrid image that line gave her.

"Got here for the inspection, got attacked by some assholes with guns, got pushed back into the command room. The civvies were on break today because of the inspection so the only casualties we have are the soldiers that were with us and the one stationed here, twenty four KIA total."

A few seconds of cursing came from Misato's end of the line.

"What about Rei?" The Commander asked, voice sliding back into business mode.

"I am here Ma'am." Rei answered.

"Just after the attack started we picked up two unidentified aircraft coming right for us, they arrived a few minutes ago and started to tear the shit out the attackers." Asuka continued her report, idly checking her pistol over again.

"The two black VTOL's I'm presuming?" Misato watched a rewind of the rebel massacre moments ago, sipping her black coffee.

"Yeah-"

_-CLANG!_

Everyone in the command room stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the steel door.

_CLANG!_

"Oh for _**fucks**_ sake, can't we just have a few minutes without the threat of our impending death!?"

_CLANG!_

"Apparently not." Rei replied, taking up a position to cover the door.

"Gonna have to call you back Misato, I'd prefer a rosewood casket and some nice rock music." Asuka said a little too cheerily, creeping out those around her.

"Asuka, those VTOL's should be friendly units, as soon as we lost communication we got in touch with them only to find out they were already on the way. They have orders to extract all NERV personal, turn the base into a crater and then take everyone to Central. Command out." The radio line cut to static.

_'...Should be friendly?! ...That damn drunkard, what the hell is going on?' _Asuka's griping was interrupted by one of the tech's.

"Sub Commander, one of the VTOL's has broken its pattern and taken a position just off the ground."

Looking back at the screens Asuka and Rei watched as the back of the VTOL dropped open and six three ropes were tossed out. Before the ends even hit the ground soldiers clad in black BDU's dropped down the lines and immediately charged into the structure, holding a tight formation.

After dropping its occupants the VTOL rose back into the air, a line of tracer fire swatting an RPG out of the air before it even came within a hundred yards of the craft.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

This NERV complex was similar to every other of the new ones built around the world. Three levels deep into the earth and a football field size outpost above the surface they are designed primarily to be a permanent forward bases in each of their regions. The training, armory, mess hall and barracks are on the first level. R&D, medical and other small programs on the second.

The third level housed the command room and NERV's brand spanking new combat simulator...which wasn't due for completion for another month.

Outside the door to the command room were ten rebels, each clutching random rifles. The rest of the rebels were scattered across the other two levels.

Rei watched the monitors as the small six man team split into groups of three and then pushed all of the enemies from the first floor, down onto the second before charging down the stairs themselves and attacking the rebels again. However the Black-Clad, as Rei named them, weren't firing to kill the enemy, simply forcing them to keep moving.

Once on the second level the team split into two groups, a team of four and one of two. The four man team kept attacking the rebels pushing them around the scenic route of the second level while the other two man team took the direct approach to the third level stairs, charging down them before disappearing from the camera's range.

'Why are they deliberately taking their time to push the rebels around the second level? Surely judging from earlier they would be able to hunt them down and kill them with little difficulty, yet they are doing this the hard way...why?'

The two soldiers that separated themselves came back into view and Rei suddenly understood what was happening.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"Spitfire, Guardian and I are set down here." One of the Black-Clad soldier spoke, the throat microphone picking up the vibrations.

"_Right, were coming down and second now."_ The reply came back over the radio. Both of the soldiers brought their rifles up to their shoulders and waited.

A few moments passed before shouting and gunfire could be heard at the top of the stair case, without looking too far ahead of them the rebels charged down it, firing wildly at the demons biting at their heels. In a few seconds all the remaining rebels from the first two floors were on the stairs, rushing down to meet their comrades and set up a line of defense.

That's when the trap was sprung.

Leaning slightly out from the archway Guardian and the other Black-Clad at the bottom of the stairs fired up into the stair case while the other four fired down.

The rebels, left with no where to run were quickly converted from human beings into Swiss cheese as hundreds of bullets ripped through them.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

Everyone in the command room stopped what they were doing as they watched the results of the fighting. The current score was clear.

P.L.F: 0

Black-Clad: A shitload.

The banging on the command room door stopped as the remaining rebels took up defensive positions, waiting for the intruders come for them.

"When I got up this morning and had my coffee, this is the last thing I expected to happen." Asuka watched as the Black-Clad hurdled over the dead bodies without a second glance, moving forward guns up as they came to entrance of the corridor that led to the command room.

"I do not believe anyone could have predicted this outcome to the day." Rei kept a wary eye on the steel door, just in case.

The Black-Clad stopped at the mouth of the hallway, three taking covering positions behind them, two aiming down the opposite tunnel just before the rebel corridor and one of them leaning against the concrete wall, the camera showing their head moving as they spoke.

"I want audio from there right the fuck now!" Asuka yelled, hoping to gleam some information from whatever they were saying. A few seconds of crackling could be heard before the static cleared and voices could be heard.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

Outside in the corridor, the rebels kept their guns trained down the corridor, one of them nearly firing out of surprise when someone yelled down the passageway at them.

"Greetings. I don't suppose it would be too much trouble for you to surrender would it?" A female voice, the leader, yelled down the corridor.

"Qui le fait de baiser sont vous?!" (Who the fuck are you?!) One of the rebels yelled back.

"Je pourrais vous demander la même question." (I might ask you the same question.)

"Nous sommes des entrepreneurs de la Garde Intercontinentale!" (We are members of the Intercontinental Guard!)

"Oh...your bounty hunters? Chasseurs de don généreux?"

"Oui! Qui sont vous?!" The Bounty Hunter leader shouted back, his gun still trained down the narrow corridor.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"I don't suppose anyone here speaks french do they?" Asuka asked, annoyed she didn't know what they were talking about.

"They are asking who each other are. The Rebels claim to be employees of a company called the _Intercontinental Guard_. The other soldiers just called the them bounty hunters." Rei answered, her eyes fixed on the screen, the voice of the Black-Clad leader seemed oddly familiar to her but she could not put it to a face or name.

"You speak french? What else do you speak Wondergirl?" Asuka glanced at her blue-haired companion.

"Perhaps this is not the time for this conversation Sub-Commander." Rei replied, still listening to the conversation taking place in the hallway.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"Vous ne surveilleriez pas capituler vous ? Je ne devrais pas vraiment tuer vous tous." (You wouldn't mind surrendering would you? I'd rather not have to kill you all.) The Black-Clad Captain called down the hallway, nestling her gun back into her shoulder.

"Et sautez sur notre argent ?! Allez vous baisent!" (And miss out on our money? Go fuck yourself!)

"Fair enough." The Black-Clad soldier turned around, facing the two next to her. "Anubis, I want them all dead." Taking a few steps back from the entrance of the corridor as another soldier, taller than herself with predominately male features stepped forward, leaning back on the concrete wall as he pulled an object from his vest and started to fiddle with it.

The silence in the corridor contrasted greatly with the rest of mornings events.

The Bounty Hunters were starting to worry, five minutes of quiet from their new enemy and still nothing had happened. With sweat grouping on their brows and staring down their gun-sights it didn't take them long to spot the object sailing through the air towards them.

_Tink-Tink-Clannnng._

All eyes locked onto the small black and orange banded cylinder resting against the makeshift barricade.

_Psssst._

Thick black smoke started pouring out of the grenade to the collective thought of _'Merde!'_ (Shit!) from the bounty hunters.

Some of the bounty hunters frantically reached for their gas masks while the rest of them, not having masks, had no choice but to inhale the thick smoke, instantly coughing and tearing up wishing that they were somewhere far, far away from here.

One of the four bounty hunters that was actually carrying a gas mask looked at his comrades impassively before picking up his discarded rifle and looking down the corridor, his eyes trying to pierce through the black haze that had settled.

A sharp barking sound, a flash from the haze and the pained screams of a bounty hunter being shot.

The other three fired down the corridor as one, peppering the walls and floor with relentless gunfire. The other five Black-Clad soldiers watched as the wall in front of them was chipped away by the bullets.

Silence once again descended in the corridor.

A few seconds passed.

A few more seconds passed.

A few more seconds pas-

-another loud barking came from the haze, sending another bounty hunter gurgling to his death!

Two Hunters left. The leader of this section and a mountain of a man, Kono, and a newcomer to the ranks, a name he hadn't gotten around to learning yet, figuring that he probably wouldn't last long in this line of work.

The rookie held his gun to his shoulder, shaking slightly as he leaped up from behind cover and fired.

Bullets lanced through the air, cutting thin trails through the thinning haze. Within seconds the rookie's gun had run dry and he stood their, panting.

A sharp barking from the Anubis's SCAR-H rifle and Kono watched as the rookies head was torn off, his body crumpling to the ground.

There was only one bounty hunter left now. Kono came in with one hundred strong men, and now only has himself and the sounds of gurgling coming from next to him.

More barking came from the hallway, causing the bounty hunter Kono to frown.

_'The hell are they doing?'_

More gunshots, this time in three quick rounds.

Realization dawned on Kono as he heard more gunfire.

_'He's killing them, making sure they're dead...'_

Again, sharp barking.

Again.

Again.

The thick smoke started to clear as the dreadful silence once again set in.

Agonizing, dreadful silence.

_Click._

Kono smirked as he heard the sound of a magazine being ejected. Jumping up from behind his cover, he lined up the rifle's iron sights with the figure in the thinning haze and squeezed the trigg-

_-**BANG!**_

The gunshot was thunderous in the confined space. Kono, with a smirk still plastered on his face fell backwards, the bullet tearing through his mask, his shallow green eyes and burying itself in his frontal lobe.

The black-clad soldier, Anubis, held his rifle by his side with his left arm, his right extended towards where bounty hunter was, the bullet casing from the Desert Eagle making a quiet _tink_ as it hit the ground.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

The staff in the command room watched as the fight just outside their door came to a close. The shear efficiency and brutality of it more than likely to haunt their dreams for weeks.

"Well...shit, I guess we all get to live." Asuka looked around the room, sighing at the thought of having to abandon this base. It was supposed to be her first command dammit!

"Maya, get the Commander back on the horn and let her know were alright. Makoto, Shigeru, get everything we need." Asuka turned to face Rei, amused by the expression of shock and interest on the blue-haired's face. "Guess we better open the door and see if their friendly or not." _'Not that we have all that much choice, they could easily break in here and kill us all.'_

"Yes, it would be unwise to keep them waiting." Rei replied, moving over to the control panel and unlocking the door, her MP5/10 still held firmly in her right hand.

After a moment of loud clicking and grinding the door rose back up into the ceiling, revealing two Black-Clad facing them and the other four with their SCAR-H's trained down the corridor. The smoke from earlier was gone, having been vented out through the air conditioning.

Asuka gave the two soldiers a once over, taking in their silver goggles, sleek gas masks, sleeker body armor and the SCAR-H rifles strapped to their chests and pistols on their thigh holsters. Both the NERV girls spotted the patch on the arms of the newcomers, a dog with pointed ears holding a knife in its bare fangs.

The two parties looked at each other, the scent of burnt gunpowder lingering in the air.

Asuka was the first to speak.

"I am Sub-Com-

-I know who you are Asuka Langley Sorhyu, Second Child and former pilot of Evangelion Unit - 02, promoted to Sub-Commander under Misato Katsuragi following the Third Impact Incident." The female soldier cut Asuka off. "And Rei Ayanami, First Child and former pilot of Evangelion Unit - 00, now currently serving as the head of Section - 2."

"The Commander told you who we were." Rei said, the voice of the Black-Clad in front still felt familiar, although from where she didn't know.

"No, the only communique we received from NERV stated we were to eliminate all hostiles and extract all NERV personnel." The female soldier said, un-clipping her mask and goggles, letting them hang to the side of her face.

To say she was beautiful would be a gross understatement, with her chocolate brown hair pooling around her shoulders, her soft facial features, soft brown eyes eagerly absorbing everything they could, a thin scar on her left ear marred her appearance slightly but at the same time helped make her features stand out more. Her serene face contrasted severely with her black battle gear.

Asuka examined the woman in front of her again, she had to be twenty years old, same age as herself and judging from the way she stood she was very confidant in her abilities.

"Do I know you?" Asuka eased her death grip on the pistol in her hand, but still held it firmly.

"Why Asuka I'm hurt. I thought you would have at least remembered your friend." The woman offered a fake sniff of sadness.

"Friends?" Asuka asked, wracking her brains for anyone that looked like her. Beside her Rei's crimson eyes widened as she realized who was in front of them.

"You really don't remember me? Well I guess that is to be expected since its been just over seven years since we last saw each other."

"Seven years...not ringing any bells I'm afraid." A look of puzzlement spread across her face. Her grip on the pistol tightening again slightly, her instincts told her to be wary of those that said they knew her.

Rei on the other hand recognized the voice, a voice she had to hear nearly every day she went to school.

"Class Representative?"

* * *

So...thoughts?

Yay...first story...and hopefully not my last.

Do you think I should flesh out the story a bit more in the next chapters....it feels a little rushed to me, anyone else feel that?


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: If only I owned it, then I would make it faster, longer, hotter and with ever increasing amounts of potatos! But alas, I don't....yet MWAHAHA

(cough, splutter)

righty oh then.

AN:

Sorry it took a lil while, laptop decided to shit itself so I had to upgrade....yay for super-top.

Still looking for a pre-reader dangnabbit, someone volunteer if they like the story please. Tis only so far one can go one their own, unless that person trips out then its anyones guess.

Also, while on the subject of hamsters with argueablely little creative talent, 90 views and 1 review....thats pretty piss-poor. Least say whether or not you like the story, I might just cry otherwise....WAH!

Onwards, once more into the buffet dear friends!

* * *

"Class representative?"

"I'm glad at least one of you remembers me, how's it going Rei?"

"Today's events withstanding I am well. Yourself?" Rei eyed Hikari's BDU, trying to figure out who she represented.

"Can't complain." Turning to Asuka she says, "How about you Asuka?"

"...Hikari?"

"Yes."

"Hikari Horaki...?"

"We covered this." Hikari's tone dead panning slightly.

"Bullshit, you can't be her!" Asuka raises her pistol to Hikari's head, her finger tense on the trigger. At the same time the soldier, with snake life reflexes raises his rifle, the sights lined up with the bridge of the Sub-Commanders nose.

Hikari didn't so much as even blink at the situation while Rei forced herself not to react, the brutal display of power from before still fresh in her memory.

"Well, I can see that you need proof." Hikari raised a gloved finger to her mouth, tilting her head as she thought. Within a few seconds her ponderous expression changed to one of amusement.

"So tell me Asuka, do you till have that massive crush on Shin-" Hikari's sentence was cut short as Asuka jumped forward, slapping her hand over the former Representative's mouth.

"Shut up!" Asuka looked deeper into the eyes of the woman before her and found that same sparkle that used to be in her old friends eyes, as well as something more...predatory. "You promised that you wouldn't tell anyone about that." Her muttered whispers are barely overheard by the other two nearby.

"Believe me now then?"

"Yes." Asuka holstered her pistol, letting out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Much to her chagrin she noticed that the other soldier still had his rifle up, the business end still pointed at her face.

"So, onto the business at hand at last. I am Captain Hikari Horaki and this," she gestured to the soldier next to her, "is Anubis, of the Jackals, a rapid assault unit belonging to the ARCOM Corporation." Hikari came to attention whilst Anubis lowered his rifle, but kept his shielded gaze on the irritable redhead.

"I'm Sub-Commander Asuka Langley Sorhyu of NERV, this is Rei Ayanami, the head of Section-2."

"Excellent, as of now everyone in this room is under my command until we reach NERV Central." Hikari's voice loud enough for the three bridge bunnies to hear. "Please do not disobey my orders as they are for your protection."

"What right do you have to give me orders, I'm the Sub-Commander of NERV dammit!" Asuka's fiery gaze followed the two Jackals as they entered the room.

"Orders from both ARCOM and NERV Central's Commander Katsuragi place everyone here under my authority." Hikari turned to Asuka, her hands reaching up to reattach her visor and mask. "If you do not wish to follow my orders I have been authorised to use non-lethal force to get you to cooperate, understood?"

"Fine." Asuka gritted her teeth, the person in front of her nothing like the shy girl from the past.

"Good. Keys! Get in here!" Hikari yelled out into the hallway, causing one of the soldiers to stand up and jog into the room.

"What-cha need Spitfire?"

"Destroy the drives and set-up the eraser, maximum yield."

"Righty-o then, if you will just excuse me miss." The soldier named Keys walked up to Maya's console, occupying the seat as soon as the young tech moved. Keys fingers flew over the keyboard at a speed which would make even Dr Akagi envious.

The three bunnies watched as Keys rapidly worked on deleting the base's HDD's whilst Asuka looked over Hikari and Rei scanned the other soldier, Anubis with a little more than simple curiosity. If he noticed, he didn't let on.

"How long Keys?" Anubis's voice caused Asuka to jump, his voice was deep and raspy, a sign of damaged lungs.

"Five minutes at the most Nuby, then another two to set up the bomb." Keys replied, her typing tempo never slowing.

"_Spitfire, you there?"_ A voice slithered through the Jackal's headsets.

"What have you got Hawk?" Hikari raised a hand to her throat, pushing the button on her throat microphone.

"_Those rats we picked up earlier are getting closer, five minutes at the most, scans show that they are more heavily armed than we originally thought too, mobile AA and a few dozen more men and an armoured convoy coming up behind them. I think it might be the Clan."_

_'Shit, that changes things a little.'_

"Keep holding pattern, we'll be up in three minutes."

"_Copy that."_

"I don't know who you pissed of this time Asuka but they sure as hell want your head." Hikari turned to the other two Jackals. "Keys, set up the bomb now, Anubis stay down here with her, I'll lead the others and our VIPs to the VTOLS, you have three minutes at the most."

Keys pushed herself away from the console just as Anubis slammed the butt of his SCAR-H into it, sparks spurting out everywhere.

"Alright you lot, follow me and stick close, we won't have time to come back and find anyone if you get lost or decide to head off on your own." Hikari lead the group into the corridor to where the other Jackals were waiting, all of them still held their guns up. "Mana and Guardian are riding trail, Smoke's with me. Keep the VIPs in the middle and move fast."

Asuka and Rei glanced at each other, each having the same thought.

_'Just what the fuck is going on?'_

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

_'Holy shit!'_

That was Asuka's first thought as they ran out of the exit and into the daylight. As they came out of the complex her eyes were instantly glued to the scene in front of her.

The bodies of the other Bounty Hunters.

Dozens of them, each torn apart with various chunks of flesh and limbs scattered about, but that was nothing compared to the blood. Splattered along the ground, over the empty, terrified faces of the former living and splashed all around the area like a demented painters convention gone horribly wrong.

The roar of the VTOL's broke her thoughts as one of them came down towards the ground, the landing struts compressing as the heavy machine touched down.

"Smoke, Mana, take the three techs into that one, the rest of us will take the other."

"Got it Spitfire." The two women rounded up the three techs, ignoring the green in their faces from the sight of the gore and herded them into the waiting VTOL before jumping in themselves. As soon as the last person was in the ramp sealed itself and the VTOL lifted into the sky, only to have the other one replace it seconds later.

"Alright you two, hop in. And try not to worry about the pilot." Hikari smirked, trailing behind the two former pilots.

_'Worry about the Pilot? What does the Captain mean...This entire situation is most confusing.'_

Inside the VTOL Hikari, Guardian and the two ex-pilots found themselves a seat in the 8-passenger cabin. The VTOL itself was broken into two. The cabin which could store anything from crates to people to even a Humvee and the cockpit, which was separated from the rest by a thick metal door with a small clear window. The sight on the other side of the window further confused the young Sub-Commander.

There was a pilots chair, all the controls and consoles you would need to be able to fly this complex aircraft, everything except for one small tiny problem.

There was no pilot.

"Hawk, how much longer till were screwed?"

"_I'd say two minutes if we get lucky, their pushing pretty hard to get here so probably less."_ A shrill beeping over the radio caused a needle of worry in Hikari. _"Scratch that, their trying to get a missile lock. We have a minute at the most!"_

"Shit! You two, sit down and buckle up!" Hikari pivoted, looking out the hatch of the VTOL just as the remaining two Jackals, Anubis and Keys, came charging out of the steel archway and moving towards the VTOL. "Yui, seal the hatch and take off as soon as their in!"

"_Order confirmed."_ A young woman's voice came out the cabin's speakers.

_'Who the hell was that? God I just knew it was going to be a bad day when the espresso machine exploded.'_

Gunfire brought Asuka back to reality as a few bullets snapped against the hull. Seconds later Keys dived into the cabin with Anubis just behind her, a few bullets slamming into the ground behind them.

As soon as the hatch was clear the ramp started to close as the roar from the engines increased dramatically as it lifted sharply into the air.

The world in the cabin tilted to 70 degrees as the VTOL lifted off. Anubis scrambled for a hand-hold, sparing a glance at the still closing ramp as he started to slide towards it.

_'Ah shit.'_

A quick jerk by the VTOL to avoid an incoming missile was all it took for him to lose his already poor grip and go sliding onto the ramp and just about to slip off-

-he jerked to a sudden halt!

Looking up he saw Guardian, the only other male member of the Jackals and Rei gripping his arms tightly. Slowly they both started to pull him back into the aircraft, his legs dangling about in the wind behind him.

A few moments of exertion later and he was in the hold with the ramp sealed behind him, death once again missing its chance.

Standing up Anubis left his reflective goggles on but unclasped his mask, letting it drop to the side of his face. From what could be seen he was the definition of handsome, with a sturdy jaw, clean-shaved face and lightly tanned jaw the only thing marring his Adonis like appearance was a scar running from his jawbone up and into the goggle masking the rest of his features.

"Thank you." Short and concise words towards the two that pulled him back in causing Rei to blush lightly. Asuka felt a spark of...something at his words, but couldn't place the feeling she had. "Yui, next time try to be a little more careful. I'd rather not end up as a pancake." He looked into the camera in the cabin, just before the cockpit door.

"_Hehe, sorry about that."_ The voice came over the speakers again. Rei was beginning to question whether this was real if that cheese sandwich she had last night had been seriously out of date.

Silence descended as the VTOL and its twin cut through the sky, picking up more speed as they ferried their cargo through the clouds.

Asuka, was the first one to break the silence.

"Just what the hell is going on Hikari?! Why were we attacked by bounty hunters, and more importantly why are you here?!"

"Look, I'll tell you everything we know once we get to NERV. What I can tell you now though is for some reason, somebody wants NERV dead, the former pilots especially."

_'Shinji...'_ A worried expression washes over Asuka's face. With one look Rei can already tell that the red-head is worried about her brother.

"Don't worry Asuka, if we couldn't find Shinji, then they won't be able to either. I'm sure that he is somewhere, safe and sound without a worry on his mind." Rei consoles her friend and superior, neither of them noticing the uncomfortable shifting of cabin's other occupants.

"_Captain, Eraser detonation in fifteen seconds."_ Keys' soft voice wafts over the radios.

"Good. Yui, are we out of the blast zone?"

"_Passed that point eighteen seconds ago Hikari."_

"Alrighty then, everyone hold onto something because in ten seconds were going to experience the life of a Martini shaker."

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

The _Clan_ stormed into the NERV Germany base, spreading through it like water in a series of pipes. Fast, efficient and fluid.

As they finished their sweep the leader of the detachment strode into the command room, two bodyguards trailing behind him. Looking around the room he can't help but feel a rage that somebody beat them to their prize.

_'No matter, its not over until the objects are delivered. We'll just have to get them before then.'_

"Sir?" On of the trailing bodyguards stepped forward, waiting for his next orders.

"Looks like we were a little slow, oh well. Have the second team on watch at the collection spot, when they arrive I want our rivals executed and the money collect-"

He never got to finish that sentence.

Because at that very moment, the small box under one of the consoles came to life, beeping once before performing its devastating job.

Satellites watching the area were blinded as a miniature sun erupted on the Earth's surface, turning a chunk of land no bigger than 15 square kilometres into a superheated smoking crater. All signs of the NERV complex, the fire fights and the _Clan_ were washed away in a ball of non-nuclear fire.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

In the two VTOL's, the explosion sounded for all the world like the sky was falling as the bomb detonated. A second later and the concussion wave from the explosion washed over them, sending both of them through what would best be described as extreme turbulence for a few moments before they levelled out again.

"_Spitfire, new orders from ARCOM. Your stop at the Whale has been cancelled due to recent American naval activity in the area, instead you are ordered to proceed directly to NERV Central."_

"Thanks Yui, how long till we get there?" Hikari smirked at the thought of the shaken faces of the techs in the other VTOL. 'That explosion must of scared them shitless.'

"_Four hours on current speed and course. When you arrive the Jackals are to report immediately to the Commander for debriefing. She will provide you with more information and further orders from ARCOM."_

"Well...might as well get comfortable." Guardian looked at his fellow Jackal. "Don't spose you brought them?"

"Didn't have time to grab them, Spitfire might have a some thou-" Anubis cut himself off as a pack of cards flew at his head. With ease he plucked them out of the air and started to shuffle the deck.

"What shall it be this time, oh mighty luck god?" It was hard to tell whether that was amusement, sarcasm or both in Anubis' voice.

"Go fish?"

"Just...no."

"Snap?"

"I'll show you snap in a minute-"

"- Kids! My deck, my rules, Five card stud, alright?!" Hikari snapped at the two of them, causing a feeling of deja-vu to pass over Rei and Asuka.

"Yes mum." The two soldiers replied, Anubis shuffling and passing cards out.

"You playing Red? Blue?"

Asuka eyed the three in disbelief.

"We just had hundreds of people trying to kill us, you nearly fell to your death and we were nearly cooked in a massive explosion and your going to play _cards_?!"

"Well...Yeah." Anubis replied, non-nonplussed.

"Deal me in then." Asuka replied with a sigh.

"I do not know how to play." Rei looked at the cards placed before her.

"Just get Red or Mum to teach you." Guardian picked up his cards, suppressing a grin at the hand he held.

"Its Spitfire or Captain, not Mum!" Hikari's yell echoed in the cramped space.

"Sure thing mum." Guardian replied, a smirk on his face at the annoyance cause to his CO.

"Gah!"

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"So Kono failed?"

"Yes, from satellite scans and what we already know we believe that Kono has been killed. We also have reports that the _Clan_ was moving in on the target zone."

_'Kono, I knew it was a mistake to send you. Too bad you were all we had in the area.'_

The man spits on the ground before bringing the cigarette back to his lips.

"The _Clan_ huh? Guess word spread around a lot faster than we originally thought."

"It would seem so sir."

"What of the targets?" With a final drag the cigarette was finished, the butt tossed carelessly on the ground.

"They have escaped, we predict that given the situation as it is now they will most likely return to NERV Central."

"Damn, guess we can say goodbye to that bounty then. How about the other one, Ikari?"

"Still unable to locate him, following his trail from he end of the Angel Wars has proven to be a dead end, so far we've had the same luck as everyone else that's gone looking for the Third Child."

"Hopefully he won't stay hidden forever, it would be nice to add his bounty to the other ones we got from the other NERV commanders. What of the old men?"

"SEELE began operations yesterday at 1300 to locate the temples mentioned within the scrolls, as of 0900 this morning they have located one of them, the other four remain hidden."

"The references given in the Dead Sea Scrolls are murky at best. That they've actually managed to find one is a miracle. Or as they would say 'Their divine gift'." Taking another cigarette out of the packet and lighting it the man looks back out over the frozen tundra, nothing but a thin wall of glass separating him and his colleague from the harsh environment. "What about those two VTOL's?"

"We don't know yet, we have some guesses but nothing substantial. I shall keep you updated as more information becomes available."

"Good...Good."

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

After several games in the VTOL two things became abundantly clear.

First, Rei Ayanami had one hell of a poker face.

It took her a few games to get the rules and ideas down, but once she did she started to cream the competition. While this was no surprise to those that knew her, the soldiers were shocked to say the least.

Second, Asuka hated to lose. The bruise forming on Guardian's face was more than enough proof of that.

So, four hours, two hundred and twelve card games, a few minutes of the VTOL rocking violently from Asuka trying to kill Guardian while Hikari and Anubis laughed their asses off and a small argument about the merriments of bridges met the two VTOL's making their approach to NERV Central.

If one were to look out the windows they would see the ultra-modern and brand new city of Tokyo-3. It seemed that getting the shit torn out of it by several angel attacks and the N2 mine detonation by the JSSDF had taught the builders of T-3 how to build an entire city very quickly. Of course the massive funds given to it by the government as an apology for bombing them also helped, but that was splitting hairs.

The two black VTOL's slowed down over the most recent lake to be blasted into the city and came to a halt above a massive steel hatch. Screeching every now and then as it opened wide enough to allow the VTOL's access to the secret, or not so secret any more, area underneath it. Both VTOLS dropped through the hole in the Earth and emerged in an underground world.

The Geofront.

Having been rebuilt following the attack against by the JSSDF, to Hikari it looked exactly the same as the time when Asuka had dragged her into it, and just like in her memories, taking pride in the very middle of the Geofront was a very unusual structure.

A steel replica of the Great Pyramid in Giza.

Circling the Geofront once the VTOL's hovered just over the landing pads before lowering the final few feet, a wave of dust and dirt spreading out on all sides from the engines wash.

And there, waiting just outside the landing pad with a dozen Section-2 Agents stood the Commander of NERV.

Misato Katsuragi.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

Misato looked on eagerly as the ramps of the black-birds lowered. As one both ramps touched the ground with a light _'thump'_ and the passengers disembarked.

The NERV personal retrieved from the Germany base were the first ones out, the three bridge bunnies looking around the Geofront and pinching themselves to make sure they were really here. Asuka and Rei came out of the second VTOL and walked right up to Misato, judging from the look on the red-heads face the raven-haired woman was about to have her hearing tested.

"What the crap?! Just what the hell is going on Misato?! I'm gone for a few days and all of a sudden the world's out to kill me!" One of the Section-2 agents grabbed his ears screaming. It just didn't pay to be the new guy and not know about the red-head's rather impressive vocal abilities.

"Give it a rest Asuka, I'll explain everything that I know later at the debriefing." Ignoring the outrage in her former ward's eyes the Commander turned to face the soldiers, all of them standing in a line and at attention. "And you are?"

"Captain Hikari Horaki, Jackal Team, of the ARCOM Corporation reporting Ma'am." Hikari stepped forward.

_'Hikari...why does that name sound familiar...wait a minute.'_

"Hikari...as in the Asuka's friend."

"Yes Ma'am."

"Your shitting me." Misato looked at the woman in front of her, sure there were some similarities between her and the girl she knew but for Hikari to become a soldier?

"No, its really her Misato." Asuka sighed, having gone through the same thing a few hours previous.

Now that they were all gathered without the threat of death looming at their heels Rei noticed something about the soldiers that rescued her. Out of the seven of them gathered, only two were male.

_'How strange.'_

"Right." Drawing the word out she turned back to her former charge. "Come on you lot, lets get back to the base. There will be a debriefing in two hours in my office. Everyone involved needs to report there capiche?"

"Understood Commander." Misato's voice snapped the bluette out of her thoughts.

"As for you lot, your free to go where you want so long as you do not go past the first four levels of the base, understood? I'll send someone to get you for the debriefing."

BLAM!

Everyone spun to the source of the gunshot, finding Anubis with his rifle up and aimed at the fallen body of a Section-2 member, a pistol tumbling out of his hand.

The reaction to this was instant.

The other eleven agents went straight for their weapons and took aim at the soldiers, while the Jackals did the same, only aiming at Section-2.

"Anubis." Hikari's tone was far from a pleasant one.

"He was about to off Red." Anubis replied, his rifle still trained on the dead Sect-2 member. "His weapon is primed."

Misato, lowering her gun moved over to the fallen man prying the gun from his still warm fingers, trying her best to ignore the new orifice in his face. Tugging back the slide gently she could see the gleam of a brass case. She handed the weapon to another Sect-2 and looked over at Asuka.

The way that she was looking at the dead man and that Rei had own gun trained on him proved that both had seen the man about to strike, only Anubis had reacted faster to it.

"Rei."

"Commander?"

"Could you tell me why one of your agents just tried to off Asuka."

"I do not know Ma'am. He is, or rather was one of the more experienced agents I had. He consistently passed all of his quarterly background checks with no red flags."

"Fine, I want you to do a complete search on this man, find out why he just tried to assassinate the Sub-Commander and how he managed to avoid detection by internal affairs, I want the reports on my desk within 24 hours." Misato gave a slight kick to the corpse, pissed that one of their own just tried to kill her subordinate. "The rest of you lower your weapons."

Everyone lowered the weapons cautiously, a heavy tension blanketing all of them as Rei stood up holstered her pistol and watching in amusement as Asuka checked to see if she any holes extra holes.

Silence prevailed among them, both parties wary of each other. Everyone within a hairs reach of their weapons.

Keys broke the silence.

"Well, I'm hungry. Anyone else?"

"Your always hungry, like a freaking black hole with legs!" Mana replied, shaking her head at her friend.

"Hey! At least I don't try to stab my friends in the back!"

"That happened one time and it was because you stole my _pocky_ bitch!"

As the yelling match continued Misato only had one thought.

_'This is going to be a long debriefing.'_

_

* * *

  
_

AN2: So? Like, dont like, review, criticise and do the happy dance.

I SAID DANCE DANGIT!

Hopefully the next chap will be longer, if not then meh :P

Planning on writing a funny story, open to suggestions, ideas and tips. Lets face it, I need all the help I can get, both creative and psychological...is it weird to talk to your hair?

~Pseudo


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I'm afraid that I do not own anything here...except for this delicious cheeseburger.

SithKnight-Galen: Hopefully the further I get and the more experience I get at writing I will be able to better flesh out, without over-doing it.

Rich: Thanks! Hopefully when I finish this story I'll write a few more with character in occupations that we wouldn't expect, as well as a few we would.

AN: This chapter is an explanatory chapter, which I have very little experience writing so it may, and most likely does suck! There will be very little (most likely zero) action taking place as I wanted to get the explanation for Hikari's character and the Jackals name out of the way early, freeing up time for more action later.

So, while this chapter will indeed feel long, possibly boring and someone may attack me with a pitchfork I promise that the tempo will pick up in the next chapter.

I would love reviews, tips and ideas on different explanation methods that will give me a different mindset to explain things, as I am personally not that happy with an overly long, action less chapter. But, without trying it I'm just not going to get any better. (I will most likely rewrite this chapter in the future)

Lastly, if someone notices a continuity or grammar (exception of speech) problem, or another issue then please point it out so I can fix it up, Cheers!

So, without further delays, NGE: Trials Chapter 3.

* * *

Smoke and Keys tensed as they eyed their objective, reviewing everything they knew in their minds in order to take care of the mission quick, cleanly and efficiently. Sparing each other a glance they shifted their steely gazes back to their target.

The target continued to sit there, oblivious to the murderous intentions of the two Jackals watching it, stalking it.

Solidarity: Union or fellowship arising from common responsibilities and interests.

Loyalty: The state or quality of being loyal; faithfulness to commitments or obligations.

Comradeship: A person who shares in one's activities, occupation.

These are the three things to which all ARCOM personal believe in more than anything else. Solidarity, Loyalty and Comradeship is the motto, the very creed of ARCOM Operators, without these things then they would be nothing more than common thugs, mercenaries on the lookout for their next meal ticket.

Today, as these two Jackals eyed their target, these feelings of solidarity, loyalty and comradeship were stronger than ever.

All of these feelings then flew out the window as both Jackals moved with a speed that would make a particle jealous, both of them keen on getting the objective before the other, intent on claiming their prize.

Smoke dived forward, one eye on the target and the other on her temporary rival, Key's. Key's did the same, her weapons of choice clutched in both hands. If one were to take a third person perspective at the scene it would be reminiscent of an old movie, the slow-mo effects queuing as soon as the action intensified, just to add to the drama.

Hikari could only wince as both Smoke and Keys collided into each other face first, entangling themselves with the other as they fell to the ground. When they came back to their senses they threw a fiery glare at each other before turning their attention to the objective, only to watch in morbid horror as Guardian waltzed up and shoved his weapon into the objective.

The last _pancake_ was no more.

An hour after they first landed at NERV Central the Jackals had been '_escorted_' to the cafeteria where the staff, on orders from both commanders, made their military delicacies for the visitors.

Within minutes the buffet of constipation laid before them was polished off completely by five of the Jackals. Spitfire and Anubis had chosen to stay out of the battle, electing instead to sit down at another table, each nursing their drinks as they waited for the inevitable.

"I think she's going to be pissed." Anubis took a mouthful of his water. All of them were still fully geared out regardless whether this was friendly territory or not. In their business it always paid to be prepared for all possibilities.

"I don't think so, I reckon she's taking it pretty well." Hikari responded.

"You know what she's like, if anything I severely understate things."

Asuka chose that moment to barge into the cafeteria, sparing the food war a glance before her eyes settled on their target.

Hikari could have sworn she heard thunder as her old friend come closer and take the seat directly opposite her.

"Explain." The tone of her voice could have refrozen the icecaps.

"Explain what?" Hikari did her best to ignore the '_I told you so_' expression coming from her friend.

"Explain **everything**! Why the _**crap**_ are you here Hikari?! How did you end up like this?! The Hikari I knew was violently ill at even the thought of bloodshed, and here you are now, Captain of your own little team of soldiers!" Hikari swore she saw smoke coming from the table in front of the redhead.

"Its a pretty long story." Hikari glared lightly at Anubis, annoyed that he wasn't helping her.

"**I. Like. Long. Stories.**" Asuka's glare didn't falter as it shifted from Hikari to Anubis. Anubis just smirked at the scene playing out before him.

"Perhaps I'd rather not talk about it?"

"Perhaps I should break your arms?" Asuka's temper made the facts that she was alone in a room filled with professional soldiers slip her mind.

A heavy cough from Anubis reminded her of this as she felt chills go down her spine. Though she couldn't see it through his goggles, the glare he was giving her might just convince her to become a nun.

Might.

"I'll invoke my right as NERV Sub-Commander!"

"The Jackals aren't part of NERV, they're ARCOM, which means you have no authority over us." Hikari eyed her friend, wondering how far this little debate will go before either she tells the redhead, Asuka storms out or worse, Asuka does something stupid and Anubis gets involved. She shuddered at that thought.

The last time Anubis got involved the argument ended quickly, and with a short trip to the ER for the other person.

"I'll have your weapons confiscated and all of you locked up!"

"And I will have broken your neck long before you made the call." Anubis's deep, cold voice caused both women to turn and look at him.

Asuka was momentarily speechless. Being Sub-Commander of an paramilitary organisation meant she had gotten her fair share of threats, but the tone of voice used by the man in front made her think that he really would do it without even a second thought.

"Your not going to give this up until I tell you, are you?" Hikari focused on her old friend again, hoping to quell her anger before things got...messy.

"No."

"Fine, but if you ask one question while I'm explaining I'm going to let them tell their stories to you." Hikari gestured towards the renewed war breaking out over a tray of burgers.

"No questions, till the end anyway." Asuka mentally shuddered at the threat.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"How are things progressing?" A booming voice rang out in the darkened room.

"We have secured the site and are in the process of gaining entrance to the temple. The two experts we brought say that they can get us in there, but I'm not so sure sir." Standing in the middle of the room, seemingly ignoring the shifting shadows stood a woman. With vibrant, pony-tailed black hair, almost luminescent skin and a pair of green eyes that would drive men crazy Helen Matsumoto was more than confident with her abilities and the task laid before her.

"Explain." A monolith loomed out of the shadows, emblazoned with SEELE 03 in the middle.

"Sir, they seem to be more focused on the ruins around the temple instead of the temple itself. It has made me wonder whether they have the expertise that we want, or if they are just trying to fools us into thinking they do." Helen shifted her position slightly, her tan combat gear starting to get sweating in the dank room.

"Hmm. Provide them with some motivation to do their jobs, kill one of them if you have to but we must get into that temple."

"Very well sir."

"Colonel, there is one more thing." A totem with SEELE 02 moved forward.

"Sir?"

"The council believes that a copy of the Dead Sea Scrolls was stolen yesterday at 1200. We believe it might be an attempt by another group in pursuit of ascension. Be vigilant."

"Understood Sir." Helen turned sharply, leaving the two monolith's hovering in the shadows.

"03, how is the investigation going?"

"Not so well I'm afraid. He died before we were able to get any real information out of him. Although some of my people have put forth the theory that it might have been NERV."

"NERV? If it is them then they are reacting much quicker than we anticipated."

"Yes. It was a good idea to initiate the hunt before the operation for Ascension took place."

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"About two years after we left Tokyo-3 and moved to Okinawa there was an incident. My father was seriously injured defending Nozomi from rapists. Luckily she was able to escape and made it to the police unharmed, however father...he died before the paramedics could get to him." Hikari sniffled slightly, moving slightly into Anubis's hand resting on her shoulder for emotional support.

"With father gone we lost our primary means of income. The insurance company ripped us off blind and then claimed that he owed them money. At the time Kodoma was the only one working and even then it was a part-time job. No where near enough to support the three of us _and_ Nozomi's psychiatrist visits. So I did what had to be done and joined the JSSDF."

"Being apart of the JSSDF set me up with food and sleeping quarters, so I sent all of the money I made back to my sisters. During boot camp it became apparent to my instructors that I had a natural talent for warfare. Can you imagine that? Me, the shy class rep having the natural skill to be a soldier."

By now the rest of the Jackals had finished their battle royal and sat in the chairs around their Captain. The only ones who already heard this story were Anubis and Guardian, the captain usually liked to keep her personnel life just that. Personnel.

"Due to my progress in the standard course I was offered a position in an experimental new training program. The idea behind it was to turn a two year special forces training course into a three month one. Twenty of us were chosen, those with the highest physical aptitudes, mental capabilities and raw skill."

"I heard of that, NERV was interested in the results of the course and kept an eye on the progress, we hoped that we might be able to quickly bolster our ranks if the experiment worked." Asuka leaned back on her chair, two of its legs hovering in the air.

"It was hell. All of that training crammed into three short months. Out of the twenty of us that entered, only three made it through. A man named Julius, Kira or rather Guardian here and myself." Hikari nodded over to Guardian, the young man lost in his own memories of the training.

"Yeah, that really did suck. But if we didn't enter the program then we wouldn't be where we are now I suppose." Kira glanced around his fellow Jackals, four of them looking at him and Hikari in a new light. "But it was incredibly fun too." The smile on Kira's made some of their skin's crawl.

"That it was. After our training we were tested against veteran spec-ops. They were rather...what would you say Guardian, pissed, that we outperformed ninety percent of the people we were tested against?"

"I'd think they were beyond pissed Spitfire. Remember that American bloke? God that was funny. He just didn't like to be shown up by two people who just exited their teens and tried to take us out after the exams." Guardian failed to suppress a maniacal grin spreading across his face. "I wonder if he's still in that wheelchair?"

"Anyway. After our evaluations the experiment was deemed a failure as so few made it through the course and we were transferred to a UN unit operating in Egypt. Our tasking orders were to completely eliminate the Kalator rebel forces and reinforce the government troops." Hikari took a mouthful of water and looked at Asuka's expression.

Intrigue, worry, anger, and confusion were all playing across her face.

"Two months after being stationed there we were given a mission to assassinate one the Kalator's generals, an Abdul Benzar. So, the eight of us HALO'd into the outskirts of the Cairo ruins and proceeded towards the target on foot. Three days later we found and killed him." Hikari grimaced at the memory.

"That's when the proverbial shit hit the fan."

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"So this is Kono's last intercepted communication?" With a cigarette dangling from his mouth Gehlen looked over the document handed to him.

"Yes sir, it would appear that he was planning on defecting to the old men once he cashed in the bounty."

"That bastard." Gehlen took a deep draw from his cancer stick before eyeing the Russian man before him. "You were Spetsnaz, right Misha?"

"Yes sir."

"Excellent, I want you to find Kono's closest relative and do something..._creative_ with them. Clear?"

"Sir." The man saluted before crisply turning and marching out the door.

_'Betraying the Intercontinental Guard huh Kono? Guess you French division guys really are worthless.'_ Carelessly dropping the report onto the table Gehlen jammed the cigarette in the crowded ash tray before pushing the button on his phone.

"As soon as Mao reports at base I want him sent to my office."

"He has just arrived sir, I'll page him for you now."

"Good."

A few minutes later a knock came from the steel door.

"Enter."

The door opened and a man who could easily be mistaken for a pro-wrestler stepped in.

"Reporting as ordered General."

"How has the mission gone so far?" Gehlen fumbled around his desk, looking for another smoke.

"According to intelligence, all targets on the list with the exception of five have been eliminated. The Intercontinental Guard is responsible for eliminating sixty five percent of those targets. Payment has already been confirmed for each one."

"Excellent, what about the five left? Might as well try to get as much as we can out of this hunt."

"Three of them have been located in the Geofront. Misato Katsuragi, Asuka Langley Sorhyu and Rei Ayanami. Touji Suzahara has been located in Osaka, however he was killed two years ago in a car crash. The last target, Shinji Ikari, has yet to be located." Mao leaned forward and offered his lighter to Gehlen, lighting yet another tar-stick.

"Damn. One of them's already dead? Usually SEELE is a little more up-to-date with their information, guess they fucked up on this one. Do we have people positioned at the Geofront to keep an eye out in case the remaining three leave the base?"

"Tanaka has been on site for the last thirty six hours sir."

"Excellent, send the second and third teams to Japan, fully equipped."

"Right away sir."

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

Hikari crushed her water bottle, letting it drop back down to the steel table.

"As soon as we dropped Abdul hundreds of rebels came out of the ruins, all of them intent on offering our heads to their leader. We started with eight, within two minutes we lost five. The remaining three of us, those that were part of the experimental training program pushed deeper into the ruins, hoping to loose them amongst the rubble."

"An hour after the assassination we managed to get in touch with command only to learn that, according to them, our unit never existed in the first place." Hikari's and Kira's expressions shifted to one of anger, the memory still bitter after all this time. "We were cut loose and left on our own, with no hope of extraction or reinforcement."

"Two days later we lost Julius, a sniper got him in the back of the head. He even managed to get me, put a round right through my leg." Hikari patted her right thigh. "So, bleeding, hungry, thirsty and running low on ammo we managed to keep on the run for another three days before they finally caught up to us."

"When they found us we were so sure that they were going to kill us. But they had better plans, they planned on torturing us on a live broadcast to the UN, a warning they said, to stop them from interfering in something that was none of their business. They tied us up and began to drag us through the ruins, stopping occasionally for a break, or to beat us." Hikari looked over to Guardian who rubbed his arm in memory of the broken bone he once had.

"Later that day they finally stopped dragging us an set up camp for the night. Several of them kept watch while the others slept. Then one of them got the bright idea to _'have a little fun'_ with the the female prisoner. Having been shot in the leg, beaten, starved and exhausted I could put up very little fight as he tried to rape me."

"That, is when he came." Hikari paused for a moment. Asuka started to grow impatient, now fully hooked on her friend's story.

"Who?"

"Me." Anubis's voice caused Asuka to jump a little, she was so immersed in her friends story that she had forgotten the others were still there.

"Just after that fucker tried to rape me a shape came out of the shadows behind him, grabbed the top of his head and in one swift motion slit his throat through to the bone." Hikari let a small smile grace her face. "In a matter of minutes he moved from one rebel to the other, killing all of them with nothing but his knife."

"Once he finished killing the last one he untied us, treated our wounds, gave us food and water and kept guard for two hours until we were ready to move again. Throughout the whole time, while Guardian helped me with my injured leg he kept three paces in front of us, quickly and ruthlessly killing anyone we came across."

"Just as dawn was breaking we emerged from the ruins of Cairo to a small town called Kalem. He," Hikari nodded towards Anubis, "did a quick recon and found that the town was under siege from the Kalator. It seemed as though they had discovered their comrades and assumed where we were heading. That's when things got really nasty."

"He told Guardian and myself to stay behind and keep covered, even handed us a stolen rifle and pistol in case we needed it. Then he headed into the town and started one of the most bloody and violent fights I've ever seen. And serving in the Special Forces I had seen quite a few."

"A minute after we lost sight of him we heard the chaos begin. Gunfire coming from al around us as he systematically moved through the town, stabbing, shooting and detonating every rebel he came across. Even going so far as to use their own weapons against them. Two hours later the sounds of fighting stopped and the streets were covered in bodies, blood, and spent ammo casings. The civilians that were there came out of their homes after the fighting had died down to see a lone man followed by a pack of Jackals wander through the field of the dead back towards us. During the fight he had been hit four times, even so he still fought like the devil."

"The locals there likened him to the god of embalming, or death. Anubis. Guardian and myself were referred to as Jackals, the followers of Anubis. That is where he, and my unit got our names from."

"An hour after the fighting ended a deep-black VTOL came to the village and picked the three of us up before ferrying us to a friendly FOB. On the way Guardian asked him which unit he was apart of and why he rescued us, when we were left for dead by the UN."

"His response was that he was apart of the ARCOM Corporation and as soon as he caught word of Abdul's assassination and our abandonment he HALO'd into the ruins and started searching for us. A few hours later he caught sight of the rebels that caught us and stalked them till nightfall." Guardian leaned forward, tipping his empty coke can over.

"He offered us a job with ARCOM, and being disowned by our own country we accepted. Anubis here arranged it so that after going through ARCOM Commander's school both he and Guardian would be assigned to my unit. _Apparently_ he had a fair bit of pull with the higher ups in the company."

"My older sister, Kodoma, was offered a high-paying administration position which she readily accepted. To say she was shocked at who I had become would be an understatement. Nozomi was moved with Kodoma and was offered free psychological help for witnessing our father's death."

"Within two months I had gone through Commanders school with top grades and assigned my own unit. Kira was immediately assigned to my unit along with Smoke, Keys, Mana, and Hawk. Anubis also offered to join my unit and serve under my command, regardless of the fact that he was a higher rank than myself, so I made him second-in-command."

"It didn't take us long to get noticed by the higher ups and before you knew it we shot through the ranks. Constantly given missions that were deemed impossible by the UN and succeeding every time."

"Seven hours ago ARCOM caught word of NERV bases across the globe being attacked so they got in touch with NERV Central and offered assistance to the only branch they could get to in time. And that is pretty much how I, and we, ended up here." Hikari leaned back, having finished her story. _'I really should just write this all down and hand them out, has to be the fifth time I've had to tell this story.'_

Asuka sat there, her mind processing everything it had just been told and coming up with one conclusion.

_'Well...That I wasn't expecting.'_

"So, my peaceful and pacifistic friend went from being Class Representative to a hard-faced soldier screwed over by her own people and then employed by a PMC."

"That's it in a nutshell. You probably shouldn't have said you liked long stories." Hikari smirked.

"This...will take sometime to get used to." Asuka stood up and headed for the door, intent on finding somewhere quiet to sort this all out, perhaps even raiding Misato's Yebisu stash.

"So...how did you get your call-sign then Spitty?" Keys leaned over her Captains shoulder, the need for formalities only apparent when doing business.

"Party trick gone horrible wrong." Hikari grimaced at the memory, it took four months for her eyebrows to grow back from that.

The door to the cafeteria opened again and a Section-2 man in a cheap suit walked in.

"Captain Horaki?"

"Yes." Hikari stood up, noticing as several of her Jackals tensed at the sight of the agent.

"The Commander has asked me to bring you to her office for debriefing." The agent turned and walked back out the door.

"What a charming fellow." Mana stated, following the cheap suit out the door. Hikari shook her head as Smoke got ready to follow them, only to dive at the hamburger tray once more before exiting the room.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

Fifteen minutes was all it took for the 'charming fellow' to lead the Jackals to the Commander's office, well to the door anyway. Waiting outside the saw the bluette, Rei Ayanami awaiting them.

"It is time for the debriefing, however regulations state that no-one is to be armed in the Commander's office." Rei stood next to a metal detector, several steel lock-boxes and Section-2 agents surrounding the area. "You may place all weaponry and metallic objects into these boxes where they will be kept until you exit the Commander's office."

Hikari grimaced, she really did not like the thought of disarming and knew that had she not been there a few would be more than vocal about their opposition to the idea of being unarmed.

"Fine. However if anyone touches our equipment we **will** kill them, understood?" Hikari mentally smirked at the shifting stances of the suits around them.

"Of course."

The seven Jackals proceeded removing their weapons. SCAR-H rifles, Glock 21 pistols, various combat knives and several magazines of ammo along with other miscellaneous items.

"Now if you could all go through the scanner, then we will enter the Commander's office." Rei passed through the metal detector first, the machine indicating that she was clean.

Hikari was the first to pass with no problems, along with Guardian, Mana, Keys, Hawk and Smoke. However when Anubis tried to go through the detector let out an angry beep. Rei stepped back through the detector and eyed the man in front of her.

"Have you removed all metal items from your person?" She looked into the man's face, seemingly nonplussed by the man's insistence to wear goggles indoors.

"As much as I can blue."

Rei grabbed a portable detector from one of the suits and began to wave the wand along the body of Anubis.

Feet and legs: Clear.

Torso: Clear.

Head: Clear.

Left Arm: Clear

Right Arm: BEEP!

Several of the Sect-2 undid their jackets and rested their hands on their pistols.

"Please remove your shirt." Rei's tone remained flat.

"Are you sure? Your really not going to like what you see."

"I will be the judge of that, now please remove your shirt."

"If you insist Blue, but I did warn you." Anubis unzipped the BDU vest and started to pull of his shirt. As soon as he finished taking of his shirt Rei gasped, her eyes widening at the sight before her.

Anubis' torso was criss crossed with hundreds of scars. Burns, gunshots and knife wounds, some of them looked to be years old while others looked more recent. The most prominent scar was a heavy burn playing out across the middle of his chest. This however was not what surprised the normally unflappable girl or the agents surrounding them.

What did surprise them however was the man's right arm.

For just below the elbow, Anubis' arm changed from a scarred and tanned flesh into curved steel plates seamlessly

His lower right arm was entirely artificial.

Rei's eyes examined the advanced prosthetic before her. Being apart of the world's most advanced paramilitary organisation made her privy to a lot of information and had her see more than her fair share of weird. She had heard of artificial prosthetics coming a long way recently, but the technology before was so far beyond what the current level of prosthetics that it would be like comparing a light bulb to a supernova.

'It merges into the flesh completely. It looks as though even the nerves of the arm have been joined to the prosthetic, but that is not supposed to be possible.'

"Uh, Blue? If your finished gawking can I go in now?" Anubis's voice shook Rei out of her thoughts.

"I apologise. You may enter the Commander's office once you have re-dressed."

"Thanks." Slipping his shirt back on he tried his best to ignore the look of hurt on Spitfire's face. _'She still feels guilty after all this time, guess some things never do change.'_

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

Seven years ago, when the Commander's office of NERV belonged to Gendo Ikari it was a dark and cold place, meant to intimidate anyone who entered. The tree of life engraved on the ceiling and the feeling that at any moment a hand might reach out of the shadows and drag you in led the majority of NERV to call the room, The Lair.

However, once Gendo Ikari had been executed for crimes against humanity and Misato Katsuragi stepped into power the office was one of the first things to change, radically.

The poor lighting, cold atmosphere and engraving were all removed and replaced with numerous lights, couches, plants, a massive wall long fish tank and three fridges filled with non-alcoholic Yebisu, much to the raven-haired woman's annoyance.

The Jackals were resting on the rather comfortable lounges as were the Commander and Sub-Commander. Rei had chosen to stand, keeping her eyes on everyone around her.

Hikari and Anubis leaned forward slightly, having been talking with Misato for the past two hours on topics ranging from Hikari's appearance to the extraction at the German branch.

"So that's it huh? I still can't believe your the same mousy girl from back then, but then again I suppose time changes all people in one way or another." Misato took another sip of her pseudo beer before crumpling and tossing the can over her shoulder, barely missing Rei's head.

"Yes, time does change everyone." Hikari quickly glanced to Anubis on her right before focusing back on Misato. "Now that the history lesson is over-"

"You cheating bastard! Why are there seven aces in this deck of cards?!" Mana yelled out, a handful of cards fluttering through the air around her, Smoke and Guardian.

"I'm cheating? What about those cards up your sleeve!" Smoke yelled back, ignoring the looks from her Captain.

"What about them you bit-"

"KIDS! Shut up! Were trying to talk over here dammit!" Hikari's patience died fast.

"Yeah, listen to Mum and just play the damn game, besides I won anyway." Guardian slapped his full-house onto the coffee table.

"**ITS SPITFIRE OR CAPTAIN, NOT MUM!**" Anubis shifted away from Hikari, taking note of the bulging vein in her forehead.

"Sorry Mum."

"Oh screw it." Hikari turned her attention back to the flabbergasted Misato. "Now do you know what's happening?"

It took Misato few moments to recover from the scene in front of her.

_'I really need to figure out a way to smuggle the heavier stuff in here.'_ Misato popped the tab on another can, taking a deep swill before talking again. "Earlier today we lost contact with every NERV branch we have, further investigation by the UN showed that all of them had been attacked by some unknown force and every person on site was killed. There's even a few reports that some of the bodies are missing their heads."

"As a response we put the Geofront on to maximum alert and reinforced the security measures we already have in place. We don't know why we were attacked, but assume its a few pissed of nations getting back at us for our international peacekeeping operations."

"Do you have any idea why a team of bounty hunters, the Intercontinental Guard would target either Asuka or Rei?" Anubis leaned forward, his eyes scanning the 'gifted' woman in front of him.

"Ideas? Plenty of them, but no evidence to prove a single one. We've got an investigation running at the moment alongside ARCOM intelligence as to the who, what, where and why, but so far we've got nothing solid."

"I see."

"That being said, we got a transmission from ARCOM about an hour ago regarding your unit." Misato handed a piece of folded paper to Hikari, who read it out loud for the rest her team.

"Captain Hikari Horaki of the First Class Rapid Assault Unit, Jackals. Based on your previous time spent living in Tokyo-3 and correspondence with NERV, and combat experience your team has been reassigned to NERV under the command of Misato Katsuragi. You may keep all current equipment and the two Ghost's."

"Commander Katsuragi has allowed the WHALE access to the MAGI systems, the connection should be finalised by 2300 hours. You will have complete electronic support from ARCOM for the duration of your assignment. Signed, Yoko Kanzaki."

"Holy shit! The CEO herself ordered us to be an attach to NERV?" Guardian leaned over Hikari's shoulder, confirming what was just read out.

"Looks that way." Hikari handed the paper to Anubis who began to read it over again. "Jackals reporting for duty Ma'am." Spitfire offered a salute to Misato, who returned it.

"We've already arranged quarters for your team and you have all been granted clearance to access a majority of the base. For now I want you all to rest up and we will have new orders for you later." Asuka smirked at the thought of having authority over her friend.

"Understood Ma'am." With that Hikari, Anubis and the rest of the Jackals left the office to regain their belongings.

"Your still a cheater." The three remaining occupants of the office heard one of the women say as they left the office.

Misato looked at the two girls with her, their expressions unreadable.

"So-"

"Not a word Misato, I'm still trying to figure this all out myself." Asuka massaged her temples. In one day her world had gone from crazy to insane. "I'm going to get drunk, you coming Rei?"

"That would be acceptable." The two of them left the office, heading towards the base's bar.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"So what do you think Anubis?" Hikari asked as they followed their fashion challenged guide through the halls towards their quarters.

"They've changed."

"That they have." Arriving at their quarters the seven of them started to split ways, heading for their own rooms.

"Mine!" Keys called out, charging for the one in the very middle.

"Over my dead body!" Mana chased after her.

"Do you plan on telling them?" Hikari turned her attention back to her best friend, Anubis.

"Not unless I have to."

* * *

AN2: So? Pretty sucky I know but meh, only going to get better with practice. As I said next chapter will be a lot faster paced and action packed, and I'll be experimenting (if I remember) with different writing styles here and there, hopefully I will get better at writing, otherwise I might just cry.

So, my piss-poor rant being over with, REVIEW IT! MWAHAHA.

Feel free to email me for or add me to msn to chat about ideas or what not.

And remember kiddies, Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will most likely beat you senseless with them.

~Pseudo


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** ITS TRUE, I OWN IT ALL (snores) no, don't wake me up, I was having such a nice dream! WAH! (By reading this you have hereby accepted that I do not own Gainax, Evangelion or an egg sandwich. You have also consented to having the possesion of your soul handed directly over to me, in order for me to make a soul flavoured pie. Thank you for reading this true to life documentation on the life of a moth.)

**AN:** What can I say? Gyar? Sorry if it pisses people off to have notes at the top, but if I don't are you really going to read them? :P

Time to answer some reviews ^_^

**LonewolfBloodstorm:** Anubis at the moment could be pretty much any of the eva characters, or even an original character. Hell it might even be Kensuke, notice how Anubis is always wearing a pair of reflective goggles/glasses over his eyes? Not to mention its possible that several years have gone past since anyone last saw him. I will reveal the death-god's identity, but not for a little while, so if you want to find out who he is your just going to have to keep reading :P

**SithKnight-Galen:** Group being females? Answered in this chapter, hopefully a plausable reason, am open to other suggestions. ARCOM information? Closer to the end of the chapter, probably a little rushed and not well thought out, I might revise it further on. Mana...I don't really know what I want to do with her, I haven't seen the G.O.S game so I don't really know much about her character (other than shes a dirty, dirty spy) so for the moment it might swing either way.

Touji getting shafted? Possibly, I have several ideas for our dear jock, that is of course if he isn't Anubis :P If he's not Nuby then I've got a few ideas to keep him mentioned, failing that I've got another story idea for him. As for the reason behind the NERV attacks and Anubis' story, we'll get to those in later chapter (perhaps the next 2 if things go as planned, 4 if they don't)

I have just realized I like to be vague when describing things, must be annoying?

Thanks for the reviews guys, actually gave me a few ideas too ^_^ looking forward to reading more of them

If you see plot holes, grammatical errors, typos or any of that crap then report it to your local pound before letting me know so I can sort it out and repost/neuter, if needed.

If you want to get in touch for idea throwing or just general larking then its

arman_chaser(at)hotmail(.com)

feel free to msn or email, or both, so long as no mention of salad bars are made. For those of you silly enough to leave the brackets, pat yourselves on the back before you slam your head into the desk :P

last note: I AM NOT A SEXIST . (you'll understand by reading hte story.)

_**Any way ONWARDS! Towards that beautiful red sky! Yosh! **_(whatever the hell yosh means)

* * *

The next morning Asuka sat up in her bed and gave an extremely unlady like yawn before rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Looking around her eyes came to rest on her two most treasured belongings sitting atop her bedside table.

Her first, and most treasured item was an old SDAT player, the same one that Shinji would often lose himself in and which she herself often listened to, something which she would never tell Misato.

The second was a picture of a young, slightly introverted brown haired boy, the only picture she was able to find of Shinji Ikari was the one taken for his Identification card when he first came to NERV.

Asuka smiled slightly, letting the memories of her youth wash over her as she reached for the player, slipping the buds into her ears and beginning her morning ritual of listening to track 26. Closing her eyes as the music began to play she remembered the last day she saw him, watching as he entered Unit-01, launching and battling the EVA-MP Series.

Tears began to sting her vibrant eyes as she remembered his screams of agony, rage and sadness. He threw everything he had into the fight but in the end, he still ended up being beaten and hoisted upon the tree of life as a sacrifice for Instrumentality.

But Instrumentality never came, the Godhood which Gendo and SEELE lied, cheated, murdered and conspired for never happened. Instead the entirety of Tokyo-3 was blasted with the brightest of white lights for a few seconds.

Her tears flowed more freely now, remembering how she rushed out of the base and up to the wounded Unit-01, which knelt at the pyramid, clambering over the scarred armour as she tried to reach the entry plug. With some effort she managed to eject the plug, only to feel her heart break into millions of fragments.

The plug was empty.

The only remaining things was his plug-suit and blood streaked LCL.

With her tears flowing freely now she mused once again on the irony of discovering her feelings for the _'baka'_ just after the defeat of the last angel, determined to declare her feelings to him just as the attack happened, just as she lost him forever.

Dr Akagi said that from the evidence and what little information was recorded the Shinji was most likely absorbed into the core of the EVA once again. She had spent month's trying every possible technique to get the young boy out of the core, only to be met with failure every time.

Shinji Ikari was declared dead on January 1, 2016.

A state funeral was held for him, the entirety of the UN, NERV and Tokyo-3 all came. Wishing to pay their respects for the boy who saved the world.

The only three who didn't attend the funeral were the three most important women in the young boy's life.

Misato Katsuragi, Rei Ayanami and Asuka Langley Sorhyu.

All three of them believed without a doubt that the boy they loved, each in different ways, was still alive, somewhere in the world.

The SDAT clicked, the tape finished.

Despite the tears rolling down her cheeks she smiled.

_'It's been seven years, seven long years and I still can't forget him. Why did it have to be him, weak, wimpy baka Shinji? But he never was weak or wimpy, he just had a hidden strength that I failed to see...Shinji.'_

Slipping the buds out of her ears she wiped her eyes, it wouldn't do for Misato to see she had been crying again. _'Granted she probably already knows...Grr, that slob only has big ears when it suits her!'_

She rose out of bed, straightening her nightgown before she leant down and brushed her lips against the photo. Satisfied with her morning ritual completed she went into the kitchen and froze in horror at the sight of Misato cooking.

"Mein Gott! Are you trying to kill me with your abominations again?!"

"Hey! I'm not as bad as everyone makes me out to be." The buxom lady replied, giving a fake sniffle to the redhead.

"Your right, your not that bad...Your worse! Christ I'm surprised we didn't get clearance to use your 'cooking' against the angels! Could have saved so much money for more useful things, like shopping."

"Keep it up and you won't get any." Misato growled as she flipped the...well I guess you could call it a pancake, but that would be like calling Unit-01 a plushy.

"...And that's a threat? More like salvation." Mumbling under her breathe Asuka dropped two pieces of bread into the toaster while pouring herself a coffee.

"I heard that!"

"Well its true!" Sitting down at the table Asuka threw a small glare at her room-mate.

"Hmph." Misato plopped down into her usual chair before digging into her...'food'. "What do you think about Hikari?"

The piece of toast froze before reaching Asuka's mouth.

"I don't know honestly...I mean I never would have expected her to end up like that! But at the same time I'm glad, she looked...happy."

"She certainly looks different from what I remember but those other two, Anubis and Kira was it? They looked hot!"

Asuka spit out her coffee at the Commanders comment. Wiping her mouth clean she started to speak again.

"You mean you didn't notice anything weird about them?" The red-heads eyes locked onto her mug, gazing intensely at it like it held the secrets of the universe.

"What do you mean?" Misato's right eyebrow arched, not use to this tone of voice coming from her flatmate.

"Those two guys, Anubis in particular, just something about him felt...familiar."

"Ah! You planning to use the _'have we met somewhere before'_ to get lucky with one of them?"

"Misato!" Asuka's face flushed bright red. She may be an adult now but the teasing still gets her.

"Haha, your too easy to tease, just like Shinji."

The mood in the room dropped instantly.

A few moments passed before either of them spoke again.

"I'm going to go get changed." Asuka rose, deposited her plate into the overcrowded sink and made way to her room in the apartment, pausing by Shinji's old door on the way.

"Yeah, I'll meet you down in the garage." Misato cursed herself, she should have known what mentioning the boy's name would have done to the redhead.

Asuka looked at the 'Shinji's Lovely Suite' sign hanging on the sliding door before cracking it open and peering into the room. Nothing had changed, everything from his school bag to his cello, even his homework was exactly where he had left it. The room still smelled like him, even after all these years.

Ten minutes later the blue bullet of doom, escorted by four Section-2 sedans left the apartment complex.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

They say that old habits are hard to break, and for Rei Ayanami that was true. Granted she was becoming more familiar with the emotions which her former puppeteer had locked away, she was still a girl prone to follow routines and logic.

Her morning routine consisted of getting out of bed, showering, eating breakfast in the cafeteria and then heading towards the firing range to practice for an hour before reporting for duty at 0800 hours.

At 0700 hours the base was practically deserted, with the exception of the few personnel who lived in the Geofront and the cleaners, so when she arrived at the firing range only to find it in use by several of the Jackals she was more than a little surprised.

Arrayed around the room were Hawk and Smoke, both of them cleaning their own weapons with a cloth while Hikari, Guardian and Anubis were lined up in the firing booths, firing short bursts from their weapons down the range. Mana and Keys were nowhere to be seen.

"Captain Horaki." Rei acknowledged the former representative as she took the booth next her.

"Rei, how _many_ times have I told you that you can call me Hikari."

"Very well...Hikari." Rei glanced at the weapon in the brown haired woman's hands and noticed hat it was a different pistol than the one she was wearing yesterday. "What are all of you doing here this early? Normally I am the only one on the range at this time."

"Since we've been assigned to NERV were doing some weapon familiarisation with some of your toys." Guardian answered her before popping off a few more rounds with his Heckler & Koch P2000 pistol.

Judging from the spent casings littering the floor Rei came to the conclusion that the Jackals had been here for at least an hour, or they had somehow gotten their hands on a mini-gun and fired it for ten minutes non-stop.

"Where are the others?" Rei withdrew her own pistol and let loose at a few rounds at the mid-range target sheet.

"Probably with Dr Akagi working on the WHALE's connection to the MAGI." Hikari put her pistol back into its samsonite case before eyeing Rei's weapon. "Is that a H&K USP45?"

Rei fired the last few rounds at her target before nodding to Hikari's question, tapping the button to bring the paper target to her so she could check her aim.

"Not too shabby Ms Ayanami." Guardian leaned over his Captain's shoulder, admiring the tightly clustered holes in the paper.

"Thank you. May I ask you a question Hikari?"

"Fire away Rei."_ 'Heh, I'm a poet and I didn't even know it, pity I'm a shitty poet though.'_

Rei, being the owner of a logical brain raised her pistol and fired several rounds at the target. Hikari just slapped her face as Rei misinterpreted what she had said.

"I am curious as to why the majority of your team is female."

"Oh that. Well there's a few reasons. The official reason is that it was luck of the draw as to who was available when ARCOM assigned team members. Another reason is that in today's world women are just as, if not more capable than men at combat."

"More capable?" To say Rei was confused would be like saying the Pacific ocean was pond.

"Well yes, females do have somewhat of a higher pain tolerance -" She ignored the snort coming from the direction of the two males "-than males. Also this isn't the medieval times where wars are fought with bows and swords, but with guns and bombs."

"Then of course there is the psychological advantage. More often than not men will hesitate before pulling the trigger on a woman. But I must admit that I do have two personnel reasons for not changing any of my Jackals for other operators."

"Other reasons?" Rei's eyebrow arched.

"Yes, the first is that despite what people think, women are both more agile and lighter on their feet than men, making them more proficient at our particular combat style. The second reason is that the Jackals are kinda like an extended family. My brothers and sisters, people who I would do anything for, granted some of them can be a pain in the ass at times." Hikari shot a glare at Guardian's back.

"I see."

Hikari ignored Guardian's mumbles of being stuck in a mainly female unit and having no luck with any of them.

The three of them then recalled, reset and sent their targets back down the range before continuing their practice for a further ten minutes.

"How long is this range anyway?" Guardian asked, firing three round bursts with his SCAR-H rifle.

"Approximately one hundred metres." Rei replied.

"Hmm. Hey Anubis, lets have a bet."

"Fine with me, what and how much?" Anubis lowered his weapon, turning his attention on Guardian.

_'Oh great, not this again. I wonder if they finished rebuilding that little African village from the last bet?'_ Hikari mentally groaned.

"Hmm. How about the winner gets a date with the lovely Major here?" Guardian's referral to her caused Rei to blush lightly, she was unaccustomed to getting many compliments from men. "Highest accuracy wins?"

"Sounds good. Do you want to get in on this Blue? Might be able to save yourself from a date." Anubis eyed the Sect-2 chief from behind his ever present mirrored anti-flash goggles. "What about you Spitfire?"

"Might as well." Hikari was quick to answer, she wouldn't admit it but she enjoyed these little competitions they held.

Rei on the other hand was in a bit of a mental dilemma.

_'I have not been on a date before. I believe Asuka said that it was an acceptable experience if it is with someone you like. However I am unaware of if I have any feelings for these two.'_ Rei looked at the two men in front of her, her heart fluttering slightly as her eyes played across Anubis' body. _'What is this sensation? It is most agreeable.'_

"Very well." Rei tried to hide the faint blush on her pale skin with little success._ 'Damn these emotions.'_

The four of them, with an audience of the range safety officer, Hawk and Smoke, they each grabbed a H&K USP45 before taking turns firing down the range.

Rei was the first to go, the pistol bucking in her grip as she slowly and systematically emptied the clip into the midrange target. Twelve rounds fired, seven of which were in the middle circle.

Hikari went next, with similar results to Rei, only one round strayed to the outer circle.

Guardian had his turn, firing his pistol quickly into the mid-range target. Twelve rounds fired, ten rounds into the centre of the target with the remaining two having key-holed through the others. It showed that he was the Jackals sniper.

It was at this time when the doors to the firing range opened and Asuka strode in, a pair of red earmuff's adorning her head. The first thing to catch her attention was the group of four and their audience as they took turns firing down the range. She then noticed the, what she estimated, thousand or so bullet casings littering the floor.

_'Kinda makes you feel sorry for the poor bastard that has to clean this up.'_ She walked over to the three non-participants and asked what was going on. Their answer caused a smirk to spread on her face, surprised that Rei had even agreed to the bet.

"Looks like Guardian's winning so far, shame the Captain didn't, would have been interesting to see her on a date with Ayanami." The image Hawk's words brought to Asuka's mind was nearly enough to send the girl into a fit of laughter.

Anubis took position in the booth and sent a fresh target down the range, leaning on the button as it went further and further. After a few seconds it came to a stop at the very end of the rail, a good hundred metres or so from where he stood.

_'Why has he sent the target so far away while the rest of us only fired at mid-range?'_ Rei wondering whether or not to point this out, but chose to keep silent.

_'The hell is that baka doing?'_ Rei wasn't the only one confused as Asuka watched the preceedings with a keen eye.

Raising his pistol he locked his eyes down the short barrel and took aim at the target.

He fired.

All twelve rounds fired in less than five seconds, Anubis' aim moving slightly after each bucking of the pistol. Turning back around and offering an overly confidant smirk he leaned on the button to recall the target.

It took fifteen seconds for the target to come back, and when it did Hikari and Guardian only groaned at what they saw.

A smiley face.

Inspired by an old pre-impact movie he had seen Anubis had shot a smiley face onto the target, using two rounds for the eyes, another for the nose and the rest for the mouth.

Rei was stunned, she did not know what she was expecting, but this wasn't it.

_'Its a shame people don't just stand still like these targets.'_ Anubis couldn't help but mentally smirk at the thought of a body being examined at the morgue with a gunshot smiley face in their torso.

"I win?" Anubis asked, handing the paper target to Hikari. "You want to stick that up on the fridge when we return to the WHALE mum?"

Hikari's reaction was predictable as she tore the target up while shouting and glaring at Anubis.

_'He has won...Does this mean that I must go on a date with him? I do not know what to do for a date. I must consult Asuka or the Commander about this.'_ Rei shifted her gaze from the goggled man to the shreds of paper lying on the ground before turning her focus onto a smirking Asuka._ 'I believe I know that smirk, and I also believe that the appropriate saying for this situation is, shit.'_

_'Ooo wonder-girl on a date, now this will be fun. Wonder what Misato will say?'_ Asuka continued to grin evilly, it was rare that a chance to tease her friend came along and now that she had one she would be like a bog with a bone.

"_Will Sub-Commander Sorhyu, Major Ayanami, Captain Horaki and the remaining Jackal team please report to the command room. Repeat, will -"_ Maya's voice blared out of the speakers, causing the range safety officer to clean out his ears.

"Guess we'll have to reschedule that date Blue."

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

Colonel Helen Matsumoto was a patient woman, in the eyes of many she would even be compared with Buddha on the patience front. She was professional and did not let the little, or big things bother her. She absorbed information like a sponge, ran it through her mind in several scenarios before choosing the best solution to deal with a problem before her.

So, saying that she was outright pissed at the lack of progress made by their 'experts' was truly saying something. Having gotten annoyed at the lack of progress, even after killing one of them to motivate the other, she un-holstered her Smith & Wesson .500 revolver and in one swift motion levelled the massive pistol at the expert's head and squeezed the trigger, evacuating the man's brains from his head.

Marvelling for a moment at the sight of brains running across the stone inscriptions near the body she tried to figure out why she didn't do that earlier.

One of her favourite motto's she picked up from her time as a US Marine Demo Expert, before being dishonourably discharged, was "There is no problem which cannot be solved with the suitable application of high explosives."

With that thought in mind she ordered the placement of several PBX charges around the archway and detonated them when her soldiers were behind cover.

As the smoke dust started to clear she climbed over the ice barricade she was using and towards the newly opened entrance, several of her men tailing behind her.

Moving cautiously to the opening they charged in, guns up and started to spread out from the door way, securing the area.

With the calls of 'clear' coming from the opening Widow, Matsumoto's callsign, went through the opening, stepping into the dark void on the other side. Looking from left to right she could make out nothing but a thick, inky blackness and the occasional dull blue from the ice outside the entryway.

Widow reached into her vest and withdrew a flare-gun raised it into the air and fired it.

The sight before her and the forward team brought their minds to a collective halt, the sight before them boggling their minds. Widow was the first to recover.

_'We're finally in, the Temple of Water!'_

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"They found the Sacred Temple of Water?" Daniel Gribs spoke, his sixty year old voice deep and raspy . For a man who was technically a senior his physique was anything but, having served in the French Foreign Legion for twenty years gave him an extremely able body, able to out-perform most people who were half his age. His call sign was well deserved, Gladiator.

"Yes High Priest, the foolish council has indeed located the first shrine. According to our Infiltrator they have at least two hundred men, several planes patrolling the sky and a a naval battle group in a holding position just off the continent's north coast." The woman known only as Lyra bowed to the Daniel, her long blonde hair spilling over her shoulders while she kept her green eyes locked onto the man.

"I see. What of our other pilgrimages? And the chosen ones?" Gladiator swivelled his chair around his gaze coming to rest on a flag hanging on the wall behind his desk.

"We have located the second shrine High Priest, however we cannot locate the remaining three. As for the chosen, we have been able to identify them, but only able to locate two of them. All of their names plus more are on the bounty list that the foolish council released previously." Rising from her bow Lyra's eyes never left Daniel's back, her mind running hundreds of scenarios of killing the disgusting man in front of her.

"We expected from our scripts that the last three wouldn't be accessible until the first two beacons were lit." Lyra didn't flinch as Gladiator's one-eyed gaze fell on her, his other socket covered by a leather patch. "Where are the two chosen located?"

"Tokyo-3 High Priest, I have already dispatched several Inquisition teams to the city to retrieve them." Lyra wondered how painful it would be to pick up the name plate from the desk and shove it in Gladiator's remaining eye.

With a small wave of the hand Lyra was dismissed, the door clicking behind her as Gladiator turned in his chair once again, his eyes locked onto the flag.

A bright red flag with five triangles arranged in a circle in the middle, a solid ring of blue surrounding them. On the bottom of the flag several words were embroidered in thick black stitching.

_'Asun Calen Tohr.'_

The English translation was stitched just beneath it.

_'The Clan of Prophets.'_

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

The scene on the command bridge was something that Hikari hoped against, but expected regardless.

In one corner, yelling at each other while wrestling over a console were Dr Akagi and Keys, Hikari didn't know for certain, but it was more than likely over the WHALE's connection to the MAGI. Mana was standing on the sidelines, shouting things every now and then at the two arguants to keep them going. Makoto and Shigeru were betting on which female would rip the others clothes first.

_'Perverts.'_

In the middle of the bridge, dressed in her commanders uniform stood Misato, having a rather animated conversation with whoever was on the line, Maya standing next to her, the scene reminiscent of the way Fuyutsuki would always hover over Gendo's shoulder. Some of the NERV personnel thought that Maya might have had feelings for either the Commander or the head of the science division.

Those people would be shocked to learn that in reality, the young mousey Maya was starting to feel attracted to Guardian, or Kira which she was told to call him when they ran into each other earlier in the morning. The female technician often did have a soft spot for the heroic type of man.

The Jackals, Asuka and Rei entered the bridge and made their way to Misato, stopping just out of sight of the console.

"I'm telling you that its impossible for the MAGI to do that! It's not even in their programming!" Akagi's face was flushed, not from embarrassment either.

"It is possible Ritzy-Poo! You just don't have the mind to see what they truly are capable of!" Keys short sandy brown hair swayed as the young woman exaggerated her movements.

"It is simply not possible for the MAGI to be self aware! Hell even your artificial intelligence can't be a true AI!"

"Ha! Shows how old fashioned you are, did those dye's go through to your brain!?"

Hikari groaned softly. She was Captain of on of, if not the best Rapid Assault Team's ARCOM had and her technical officer was arguing with Ritsuko like two kids in a candy store fighting over the last Freddo.

_Click._

The sound of a gun's safety being disengaged instantly shut the pair up as they looked at Hikari.

"I have a loaded gun and a headache." Her voice calm, collected and with just the right amount of emotion to make some of the bridge staff wish they wore diaper's for when they pissed themselves.

Keys was about to apologise and through in a 'mum' comment but stopped when she noticed the twitch in her Captain's hand, barely restraining the urge to whip out the pistol and fire it at someone.

Keys sat down at the terminal, leaving Akagi to stand and ignore a glaring Misato.

"Well, now that racket is over perhaps we can get to business?" The console Misato had been talking to spoke, the voice very well known to the seven Jackals.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"So your telling me that we can't go any further?" Widow stared at the soldier before her impassively.

"Yes, it seem-"

BANG!

The soldier fell to the ground, clutching his neck as blood gurgled out a ragged hole. As his vision darkened the last thing he saw was the smoking revolver in Matsumoto's hand.

"Someone better figure something out to get into that Sanctum. I don't care if you have to make a battering ram out of him," gesturing to the body on the ground, the blood from his neck staining the ice around them, "or use more explosives. Just get me the fuck into that room!" Widow turned and walked back through the passageways they marked out, ignoring the bodies caught in the traps from when they first entered.

"I hate reports." Kicking a severed leg out of her way she began to figure out what she was going to say, and how badly the council would take it.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

The Jackals stood at attention as the main screen flickered to the image of a beautiful woman in her late thirties with silky red hair pony-tailed over her shoulder and a rather petite set of glasses adorning her unblemished face. Her brilliant cobalt blue eyes radiated a sense tat she could look into your very soul and if desired, tear it out.

She was Yoko Kanzaki, CEO for the ARCOM Corporation, one of what the military world calls the Big Three. The Big Three are labelled as the best non-national military organisations around. ARCOM, ComSol or Combat Solutions and the paramilitary NERV.

NERV was given direct funding from the United Nations in order to be a sort of peacekeeping force, deployed across the world into hotspots in order to stop the conflicts. They only had the money given to them by the UN to work with and had to follow every law they had, with the exception of the few black operations NERV ran occasionally.

The other two, ARCOM and ComSol were Private Military Corporations, or as most people like to refer to them, Mercenaries of Contractors. Being PMC's they had the capabilities of taking any missions they wanted, easily making more money than NERV and with a reasonable amount of leniency on the laws were able to fund their own research into whatever field they wanted to.

Yoko Kanzaki, after leaving the military, had seen a great opportunity for a PMC in these turbulent times and thus created ARCOM, who within years went from your corner-side Rent-A-Cop agency into the biggest PMC in the world. ARCOM developed two jewels for its crown, two pieces of technology that nobody else had ever been able to create.

The first, and largest was the WHALE. An absolutely massive submarine designed to essentially be a moving Operating Base for all ARCOM personnel

The second achievement, and one which had developed a rather interesting relationship with Anubis was the ARCOM AI, or as the Jackals called it, Yui.

A multi trillion dollar project meant to give an unprecedented level of electronic warfare and support capabilities, whose holographic avatar was at this very moment sitting on Anubis' shoulders as Hikari talked with Kanzaki.

When Yui had first activated in the NERV complex, thanks to the connection from her servers in the WHALE, she proceeded to jump around in glee for a few moments before leaping up onto her favourite person's shoulders. Ritsuko sat in a corner, her fingers dancing over her keyboard as she tried to understand just how Yui was able to exist as a self-aware digital life-form when even the MAGI hadn't become self aware.

Rei however was shocked.

For the ghostly apparition of the AI looked exactly like she did when her first body was activated, minus the blue hair and red eyes. The way in which she clung to Anubis' also stirred some unknown feelings in her. _'What is this feeling? Is it...jealousy? Could I be jealous of a program? I do not like some of these emotions, they are most confusing.'_

"So from your report of the events in Germany I have ordered the WHALE to patrol the ocean just outside the east coast of Japan. They have orders to support you if need be." Yoko pushed her glasses up her nose, very much like Gendo used to do.

"What about ARCOM's other operations Ma'am?" Hikari was a little shocked that the flagship of ARCOM would essentially be on her beck and call.

"WHALE-2 will handle those operations, I think it would be perfect for her maiden voyage. Now if you will excuse me, I have a budget meeting to attend. Commander, Captain." Yoko nodded at the two mentioned before the transmission flicked off.

"Did we kill Hitler or something in a past life? Because this is just too cool to get control of the WHALE." Mana was the first one to speak.

"Must have." Hikari's thoughts on the other hand were very different._ 'What's going on? I've never heard of any of the RAT's, or anyone for that matter being given complete access to the WHALE before. She's hiding something...I don't know what, but she definitely knows something about this hole mess.'_

"Well, now that's over can the lot of you come up to my office?" Misato exited the bridge, the two former pilots and the Jackals trailing behind her. Yui hummed happily, her holographic legs kicking lightly as she made use of the bases camera's to project her image. Her face brightened as Anubis' reached up and started to tickle her, making her laugh.

Sure she may have been an incredibly complex computer program gone sentient. But sometimes it was just good to let it all down and have a little fun here and there. Usually with Anubis or Hikari.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"Will you stop that?!" Asuka's infamous temper flared after listening to the annoying humming coming from the hologram.

"Who?" Mana asked, sitting on one of the couches in the Commander's office.

"Her! It!" Asuka jabbed a finger towards Yui.

Yui's response to this was to pull down her eyelid and stick out her tongue at the redhead.

"Grrr come here you!" And so the chase began, the Sub-Commander chasing after a small holographic child, something she couldn't even touch.

"Enough! We have work to do dammit!" Misato's yell was enough to bring everyone's attention back to her.

"Hmph."

"Right. Rei, how has the investigation gone?" Misato leaned back in her chair, hoping that the headache she had wouldn't turn into a full blown migraine, they really hampered the ability to enjoy being drunk.

"After searching through his house and conducting several investigations into his accounts-

-skip to the point Wonder Girl."

If Rei was miffed about being cut off, she didn't show it.

"In summary, the traitor was bought out by an undisclosed party."

"That's all you could find out?" Asuka was slightly annoyed that so little had been found out about the person who tried to kill her.

"No, we were able to track several electronic messages to an office building in T-3 through the MAGI. The entire level has been rented out to a false organisation, from MAGI records we came toe the conclusion that this location was intended for an E-Warfare team, with the possibility of it being an operations centre."

The room was silent as the occupants absorbed the information. The point to the entire thing was that the man who tried to kill Asuka wasn't working alone, and there would more than likely be more attempts on her life.

"Well, the solution to that is easy then." Yukiko 'Hawk' Sato rose from her couch, locking eyes on Hikari.

"And that would be?" Asuka looked between the two, getting the feeling that a conversation without words was happening, she hated it when she wasn't included in something.

Anubis answered her.

"We destroy them."

* * *

AN2: So? Review it please ^_^ I know I promised more action in this chapter, but I failed a bit, so to make up for it theres a gunfight in the next chapter, and I gurantee a McDonalds will be destroyed in a creative method....i hope.

And damn you Galen! You've got me trying of think of smart-ass quotes now .

Lets see....I've got nothing....dammit! Next update I will .

Also some help from the viewers (hears one person cheering half-assedly) I'm looking for a Shinji x Rei (i think its a s x r anyway) story that was on here somewhere. Damned if I remember the name but the description is in the bottom of my profile page.

Looking forward to reviews, so much so I might be turning into a review crazy psycho.....again

~Pseudo

And now a question: Who was the first person who thought of drinking a cows milk? Did they just run up to the cow and 'latch' onto it or something? (please note, rhetorical question, no cucumbers permitted)


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I came, I saw and then cried over lack of ownership. The time machine is still in the works so you never know, things might just change MWAHAH

And now, to my lone reviewer for chapter 4, Sithy...I can call you Sithy right? :P

Some of the characters do and are (one or 2 in particular) meant to be a little larger than life. At the moment I'm experimenting with getting into my characters minds, how they tick and what not, having not done much writing this is the best way for me to experiment whilst getting opinions and pointers, hopefully I'll get better at creating my characters (or personalities as this is fanfiction) ^_^

As for Widow (Matsumoto) hopefully I don't screw her up and make her character seem out of whack. The subordinates elimination's don't and won't happen often, the nameless experts were hired help (so no one cares, besides id like to think SEELE would kill them anyway for knowing too much, they seem rather thorough like that...like roaches). As for running out of gophers (people for the uninitiated among us!) not likely to happen. SEELE is the shadow UN, UN controls a shitload of nations and armies, post impact makes people desperate for work, therefore more soldiers/militants, more people for SEELE to get....least that's what I'm thinking at the moment, hopefully a suitable explanation....if not then I'll get Widow to kill the person who does the explaining and substitute my own :P

As for Shinji being listed on the hunt list. Answered in the middle – end section (must remember the paranoid nature of SEELE) probably not answered in the best of dialogue, but again im still learning as i run along this merry little track

bad habit with the mary sue's to make them how I want them, not who they should be, again practice should help me(and reviewers comments :P)

The MAGI being sentient? Getting to that later in the story. Considering its made out of people's brains I don't see why it can't be sentient, but as said, will get to it later. Take solace in the fact that Akagi said it wasn't possible, but then again she also said the same for a 400 synch rate, the angels, the evas, other random scientific jargon in the series and Gendo insisting on wearing a tutu during their....rendevous. Besides the universe likes to screw with people.

To be honest I got the idea for the WHALE from FMP, just working out what it looks like in my mind...a scary, scary place.

End Transmission.

* * *

Jonas Barret is your normal run of the mill key-jockey for a big company, in this case Harlequin Entertainment, which had just finished setting up their new offices in Tokyo-3 in the Sukitori Building.

Jonas' normal day would be get up, go in to work, bash your head against the wall while you listen to your boss's retarded ideas for a latvian milk espresso machine, complain that your computer doesn't work, go home and do several unsavoury things while listening to the neighbours...fornicate.

He sounds somewhat perverted, but being a desk jockey he has to get entertainment in some form of his miserable existance.

After today's events however he would never crave for excitement again.

It started out like a normal day for our dear Jonas. Get up, relieve pressure, have breakfast and go to work, ignoring the old lady asking for the rent.

It was on his way to work that things got...different.

As he drove his Hyundai Excel to the Sukitori building, preparing once again for the mind numbing ideas from his boss, he passed by three black sedans. There were two reasons he noticed these sedans.

The first, and less important, was that in the first sedan two women were in the backseat, attacking each other. To an outsider, especially a perverted one, it looked like they were trying to get it on.

The second reason, and the most important in Jonas' eyes was that in the second sedan sat the very image of exotic beauty.

Pale skin, blue hair, red eyes, killer figure and a face that could make your heart explode.

Unfortunetely for our friend Jonas, the three sedans pulled off the highway and drifted along the exit into the lower business quarter of the city. He cried mental tears as his beautiful was taken from him.

Fifteen minutes later he arrived at work, cursing as the contents of his briefcase went everywhere, after spending ten minutes cleaning it up he got into the garage's elevator and riding it to ground level. When he stepped out he couldn't help but look up, marvelling at the Sukitori tower.

Sixty five stories of ingenuity the tower was oval shaped, the reflective glass blasting the buildings around it with the sun's bounty. Straight above the reception area was completely empty all the way to the roof, giving a spectacular view to those on the higher floor of the in-side of the tower and out into the city through the thick windows.

Jonas could feel that it was his lucky day, the blond secretary who he had been aiming for was working again, it just wouldn't be right to pass up a chance to try and bed the lovely specimen. Besides it would get him away from his boss, always a plus.

Brushing an idle hand through his blond hair and putting on his best smile he approached the woman, her eyes locked onto his, a moment between them started.

The moment ended as soon as a mangled body hit the floor between them, giving out a sickening thud!

They both looked at the body.

Then at each other.

The secretary screamed while Jonas looked up into the shaft, trying to figure out what had just happened.

Jonas Barrett saw another body get flung over the railing of one of the higher levels, watched as it tumbled through the air, the man screaming as gravity pulled him towards the ground.

Barrett's eyes widened in horror as the screaming man got closer, its shadow cast over the top of Jonas.

His last thought was that the latvian milk espresso machine was actually a good idea.

_Splat!_

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

(Seventeen Minutes before the ending of our dear, loveable Jonas.)

_'I swear to god if this keeps up somebody will die.'_ Hikari's patience ticked downwards as she was forced to listen to the childish argument in the backseat of her borrowed Sect-2 sedan.

"Give it here dammit! It's my turn." Mana pulled on the object clutched in Keys' hands.

"You had it on the VTOL, so its my turn!"

"You used it last night before sleeping, so its my turn!"

"That's bullshit and you know it!"

"Come on, you've got that other one! Give it to me, I need it so bad!"

"Oh you need it that bad huh? Well tough because its my turn to have some fun with it!"

_'Were some of the most highly paid mercenaries in the world and here are two of my best, arguing over a stupid gameboy. I wonder if Smoke is spiking their food again?'_

Following the digital footprints left behind by the failed Sect-2 assassin, as well as several minor attempted hack's of the lesser NERV computers the Jackal grabbed their gear plus extras from the Armory before borrowing some Sect-2 sedans and making their way to the Sukitori tower.

In the first car was Hikari, Mana and Keys.

The second had Anubis, Guardian and a rather stubborn Rei Ayanami, whom insisted on participating on the operation.

The third and final sedan held the last two Jackals, Hawk and Smoke as well as a Section-2 Agent called Akira Kikuchi, or as the running joke was in NERV at the moment, Rei's right-hand man.

"You know that guy in that shitty Hyundai over there seems really interested in you Major." Guardian drawled, a slight smirk forming on his face as Rei didn't answer him.

"Blue, why did you really want to tag along on this little adventure of ours?" Anubis turned the steering wheel, following Hikari's sedan off the highway.

"It is apart of my duties." Rei's voice was flat, but hitched slightly at the word 'duties'.

"Cut the shit."

"I feel...responsible. It is my fault that Asuka was nearly killed. I wish to thank you for saving her." Rei offered Anubis one of her rare smiles, the kind which could brighten even Terminal Dogma.

"Its not your fault that happened. Unless you actually encourage your people to betray you." Guardian decided to enter the conversation, becoming rather interested in why his charms weren't working on the bluette.

"There's saying in ARCOM about things like this." The light glared off Anubis' mirrored glasses, flashing onto the face of Rei in the passenger seat.

"What is it?"

"Shit happens."

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"High Priest." Lyra bowed before Daniel, her black robe touching the ground softly.

"Yes?" Gladiator didn't even bother to look up from the papers infront of him, thousands of symbols printed all over the documents.

"The three Inquisition teams we have dispatched have requested permission to conduct a cleansing on a possible group of heretics." Lyra rose. 'How many paper cuts will it take for a person to die I wonder?'

"Is it NERV?" Daniel looked up at Lyra, ignoring the look of sadistic pleasure on her face.

"No, they cannot say for certain, but the information they did gather absolved NERV's involvement with this group."

"So, another player on the field perhaps? This is starting to become crowded." Gladiator tapped his chin, his mind turning over the pro's and con's of a cleansing.

"Permission granted for a cleansing, just be sure to keep collateral damage low. We don't want to get NERV onto our scent just yet."

"Yes High Priest." Lyra's fingers fiddled with the hilt of the knife in her belt, one smooth motion and the man would be dead.

"Lyra. Where are they going to perform the cleansing?"

"The Sukitori tower in Tokyo-3, High Priest."

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

Yoko Kanzaki smiled.

It had taken many months of planning, several million Yen and several lost lives to achieve since she had learned of its existance, but at last she had her prize.

Unclasping the buckles of the briefcase before her she reached in, her fingers wrapping around the computer printouts, dropping them onto the table before scanning the first document.

The heading of the Document was faded and in strange, curved symbols. Right below the faded words was a computer printed translation.

The Dead Sea Scrolls.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"That's it?" Hawk's voice came through the radio's crystal clear.

"That's it. According to the information I was able to gleam the servers should be on the fiftieth floor. That entire floor is rented to a dummy corporation. I've set the MAGI on following all of the leads for it." Yui's synthetic and eerily human voice came over the Jackal's headsets. The AI was monitoring the team remotely via the headsets on everyone's head, each equipped with a mini-cam.

"Blueprints show two primary elevators, a service elevator and two staircases on either end of the building." Yui continued to give information as the team exited their vehicles in the garage.

The garage itself was multi-leveled and predictably filled with expensive looking cars. Ferrari's, Porsche's and Lamborghini's. However breaking the show of money were several dark coloured vans, each of them parked on the lowest level of the garage, not too far from where the three Jackal sedans parked.

"I'm telling you its my turn!"

"Mana, enough! Serious time now." Hikari's sharp order instantly made the young Jackal drop her playful attitude and adopt a serious expression on her face.

The eight of them, including Rei, were donned in civilian clothing to move around without attracting attention. However each of them carried several concealed weapons and knives, courtesy of the NERV armory.

"Hawk, Smoke, your Team 1, take the service elevator to the roof and set up for an external assault. Mana and Keys are Team 2, I want the two of you to take control of the tower's security room. I want to know in advance if anyone tries to enter the fiftieth, understood?" Hikari looked at the two teams, each nodding in acknowledgement of her orders.

"Guardian, Anubis Rei and myself are Team 3, we'll go to the fiftieth floor and storm the room, R.O.E are simple, if its hostile its dead, clear?" Team 3 stated their acknowledgement of Hikari's order.

"Akira, your to stay with the vehicles and keep an eye out for anyone suspicious coming in."

"Can do." Akira moved into the car-park, pulling a disappearing act that Sect-2 are renowned for.

"Yui, I want complete electronic support on this one and lock down the elevators as soon as we start."

"Got it Spitfire."

"Lets go get some answers then shall we?"

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"What the hell is the meaning of this?!" The guard stood up, his chair tipping backwards as he glared at the two women infront of him.

"We're with NERV Section-8, as of now you are all working for us." Mana's tone left no room for negoiation as she did a final sweep of the room with her KEL-TEC SUB2000.

"NERV? What the hell does NERV want with us?"

"We just need your assistance on a matter of state security sir." Keys shurgged her KEL-TEC over her shoulder as she sat down at a console and started to enter commands.

"Ah that's better, full unrestricted access. Those firewalls were getting annoying. Thanks Keys!" Yui sang through the headsets.

"No problem Yui."

"This is Team 2, objective complete and beginning monitoring."

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

Kaname 'Smoke' Ito earned her callsign through her rather zealous addiction to pretty much any nicotine product. Right now she pushed down the urge to cough as she fired the final support bolt into the roof.

"That's a long way down." Hawk peered over the edge, marking in her mind her mind which window they wanted to penetrate.

"Meh, that tower in India was taller. Christ I thought you were going to die when you jumped off the roof like that."

"Oh yeah, now that was fun!" Hawk fixed the rope around her waist, her own KEL-TEC fold-up rifle slung over her buxom chest.

"This is Team 1, in position and awaiting orders."

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

39.

40.

41.

"Hey Anubis, is this a gray hair? I mean its taking so long to go up that I might need a walking stick just to get off the elevator." Guardian pulled on one of his bonde bangs.

43.

"Its not gray, but if you keep it up it wont be on your head anymore either."

45.

"Meany." Guardian pouted, causing one of the office ladies in the elevator with them to blush. "You know I just have to say this at least once."

46.

_Ping._

The two office ladies got the elevator, winking at Guardian as they left.

"What must you say?" Rei asked, the actions of the Jackals confused her, one moment they were playful, acting like over-grown children and the next they were lethal killing machines. She still thought of the massacre caused by them at the NERV-Germany base.

"Are we there yet?"

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

Colonel Matsumoto had a blank expression on her face as she cleaned her revolver, a small stubburn speckle of dry blood on the barrell from her earlier...annoyance.

"Excuse me Colonel, the council wishes to talk with you." The co-pilot of the private jet leaned out the cabin door.

"Fine, patch them in."

A minute later she was surrounded by five Totems, each bearing the word SEELE 01 through to 05.

"Colonel, we have received reports that the zealots have discovered the second Temple. We are changing your orders to link up and take command of the Second Expedition team, as well as an advanced force of British SAS and take control of that Temple." SEELE 02

"Understood sir."

"Good, we also have information for you regarding the stolen data. From our investigations it would appear that ARCOM is behind the theft." SEELE 03

"ARCOM? Why are they after the Scrolls sir?" Widow already knew, but it didn't hurt to have the bosses _think_ they were smarter than you.

"We assume the same thing that we want." SEELE 05

"Ascension." All five SEELE said at once in a conveted voice before disconnecting, leaving Widow alone once again in the plane.

_'ARCOM is making their own play huh? I wonder how my big sister is doing these days.'_

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

48.

49.

The occupants of the elevator tensed, Hikari and Guardian gripping their KEL-TEC compact rifles under their long jackets, Rei standing behind them all as she watched Anubis pop his knuckles.

50.

_Ping._

The four exited the elevator and were immediately spotted by the three men in wide cut suits standing near the only door on the level.

"I'm sorry Ma'am, but this entire floor is restricted. I'm going to have to ask you to-"

"- I'm terribly sorry, but we have an appointment with the Manager. Could you please let us in?" Hikari walked infront of the group, her blouse showing off a substantial amount of cleavage.

Hikari walked towards the three guards, her hips swaying suggestively as she drew the attention of the three men. Rei, Guardian and Anubis were ignored.

"I'm sorry Ma'am, non-personel are not permitted to enter today." The guard may have been professional, but it had been too long since his last...encounter.

"But if we don't get to our appointment in time I'll get into trouble again. Is there anything I can do to change your mind?" Hikari pouted.

The guard faltered, a rather disturbing smile crossing his face as he began to play with the idea of having this woman. Looking her up and down once again he came to his conclusion and moved towards her, both of his hands reaching out to her.

"Well-"

_Pop!_

One of the guards near the door didn't even blink as his brains were evacuated from his skull, his body falling to the carpeted floor.

The guard near Hikari stopped and spun around, catching sight of his dead comrade he came to the conclusion that he was fucked. He spun back around and leapt at Hikari.

Three sub-sonic bullets tore into the man's torso, piercing his heart and killing him instantly, the man's momentum carrying him to the railing before he toppled over it, falling fifty stories straight down.

The final guard however had already pulled his pistol and chosen his target.

A head of blue hair came into the sights of the pistol.

The guard squeezed the trigger, only to stop at the burning sensation in his right kidney. Reaching towards the pain his eyes widened as he realized what happened.

He had been stabbed.

While Guardian dropped the first guard and Hikari took care of the second, Anubis had charged forward and in one smooth motion withdrew his knife and rammed it into the final guards kidney. Pulling it out Anubis caught the look of horror on the man's face as he slammed his boot into the guard's lower back, propelling the struggling man towards the railing before he too toppled over.

He screamed the entire way as gravity drew him into its embrace.

_Splat!_

"Well, guess that answers the question of whether or not this is the right place." Guardian glanced over at Rei, it appeared as though the Section-2 Chief had no problem with killing judging from the blank expression on her face. But then again you really couldn't tell with Rei, always wearing the same expression.

"Team 3, three tango's eliminated. Team 1 you are to go on my signal. Team 2 I want the building I want the phone lines cut so no one tries to make any calls for reinforcements." Hikari's gaze was locked onto the fingerprint scanner next to the door. "Anubis, drag that guy over here and put his fingers on the scanner."

Anubis walked over to the body, giving it a sharp kick just to be sure it was dead before grabbing its clothes and beginnig to drag it over. Before he pulled however he had a better idea, so unsheathing his knife he set to work on removing the man's hand.

_'Not like he needs it anymore.'_

_'I wonder if we can turn it into a monkey paw?'_ No one could say that Guardian wasn't always looking to make use of anything he could.

With a sickening crack the hand came from the body. Anubis tossed it to Guardian as he took up a position next to the door.

With a nod from everyone he pushed the severed hand onto the biometric scanner.

(Please try again.) These words flashed onto the screen as Guardian scowled at the hand.

Once more he pushed the hand onto the scanner, once more the scanner beeped.

Angrily.

(Access Denied, please stay while security is notified.)

"Well, thats not good."

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

Mana smirked as she slammed the butt of her rifle into the flashing red light.

Keys sang as she typed in the commands to stop the alert going to local police.

The alert was sounded, and the only people that would ever know of it were either part of the Jackals or grouped together in the back of the room, tied up.

It appeared as though the security officers were not entirely happy about handing control over to NERV.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"Plan B then?" Rei asked, an anxious smile tugging at her lips.

"Plan B." The three Jackals moved away from the door as Ayanami reached behind her and pulled two items from the small of her back.

A flash-bang and a small satchel with C-4 tattoed onto the dull brown satchel. Not many people would know this about Ayanami, but she had a serious Yen for explosives.

Rei tossed the flash-bang to Hikari before attaching the satchel to the door.

Making sure everyone was at a safe distance Rei pulled out a small detonater and flicked the switch

**BOOM!**

The people in the office shit themselves as the door was blasted off its hinges and slammed into the opposite wall. Following the door a small object was tossed in.

With everyone's attention drawn to the explosion the flash-bang worked like a charm, overloading the senses of the people, blinding them to the in-rushing Jackals.

The offices in the Sukitori tower were designed to be massive open planned areas, allowing companies to set up their own dividers between worker's desks. This office however was devoid of furniture with the exception of a few desks, some horrible carpeted dividers scattered around and a massive amount of electronic equipment sitting in the middle of the room.

Several of the better trained men in the office hit the deck as soon as the door exploded, thus shielding themselves from the following flash-bang detonation.

One of them glanced over the top of his makeshift barricade, a turned over desk. He was rewarded with a bullet in the head.

The other seven soldiers unleashed their weapons, firing aimless torrents of steel towards the doorway.

The Jackals dove for cover.

The others however were not so fortunate. Being blind and deaf they stood no chance as the bullets raked penetrated their bodies.

Hikari yelled something into her headset, the words lost over the roar of the gunfire.

Guardian popped a fresh magazine into his KEL-TEC before leaning the rifle out and returning fire.

Rei to returned fire at the soldiers, scoring a lucky hit as one of their heads exploded.

The soldier's firing stopped for a moment, their guns running dry.

Anubis chose that moment to stand up and rake the enemy barricade with his rifle.

Two soldiers died while another threw down his rifle and grabbed his pistol, popping out of cover and squeezing off two rounds before Hikari took him down.

Anubis roared in pain as the pistol's bullets tore into his upper right arm and into his mirrored glasses. Pulling himself to lean against the overturned desk Anubis examined the wound on his arm.

_'Fuck.'_

Rei fired a few more shots, forcing the soldiers to take cover before taking a quick glance around her cover, her eyes widening at the sight of one soldier hefting a heavy tube onto his shoulder.

A rocket launcher.

Rei raised her weapon, taking aim at the soldier.

The soldier took aim at the Jackals.

Rei squeezed the trigger.

The soldier squeezed the trigg-

-the windows behind the soldiers exploded, showering the entire office in glass!

Surprised by the shattering of the windows the soldier turned around just in time for Smoke to put fire her own weapon.

The remaining soldiers were promptly decimated, their exit blocked by Hikari's team they had no where to run as Hawk and Smoke emptied their weapons into them.

The office became quiet, the last soldier having his head removed from his shoulders by Smoke's shotgun.

"Clear!" Smoke called out, doing a final sweep with her shotgun.

"Any injuries?" Hikari scanned the office.

"Yeah." Everyone's attention went to Anubis.

Hawk, being the Jackals pilot and medic came rushing over, kneeling over Anubis as she examined the wound in his shoulder.

Hikari was the next by the man's side, mentally sighing in relief that the wound was non-fatal. She then caught sight of his smashed glasses laying on the floor. Looking behind her she saw Rei move towards them.

Hikari reached into her coat and pulled out her own pair of anti-flash glasses, handing them to Anubis just as Rei arrived.

Rei's attention was fixed on the bullet wound in the man's arm, until his other hand moved.

The bluette looked at Anubis' face and was instantly drawn to the man's eyes.

One cobalt blue eye.

One blood red eye.

_'Red...just like mine.'_

Anubis slipped on the glasses, interrupting Ayanami's view.

"Bullet went right through and luckily missed the bone. But your still going to need a cast when we get back to base." Hawk pulled out a pen object from her mini-medkit and jammed it into Anubis' neck. He hissed as the painkiller was injected straight into his bloodstream. "That should lessen the pain without hampering your movements."

Anubis grunted as Hawk wrapped the bandage around his arm. After a few moments he stood up, ignoring the looks he was getting from Hikari and Rei.

"Found something." Smoke yelled, Guardian sitting beside her at the console, having a conversation with Yui as she connected to the hardware.

"Turns out these jokers were apart of the Intercontinental Guard." Guardian didn't bother looking up as the others gathered around him. "The same jokers at the NERV base in Germany. It also looks like they've been here for a little while." He brought up several photos of Rei, Asuka an Misato, some of them dated seven months old.

"If they're IG is there any information on this bounty hunt?" Hikari scanned the documents over Guardian's shoulder.

"Yeah, a list of the targets and the location of the assessor for the hunt. Looks like an old mansion in France. Get this though, the hunt was issued four days ago, two hundred million US dollars target. Its also written here that they must be alive, otherwise the bounty on them is void."

"Wait, so the hunt started three days ago, but the surveillance goes back to seven months?" Anubis groaned as he felt the painkiller pulsing through his system.

"Looks that way."

"Just what the fuck is going on here? Who's on the list?"

"Twenty six. Our three NERV ladies are on it, as well as some guy named Shinji Ikari, another called Kaoru Nagisa and a bunch of others."

"The MAGI have indentified the rest of the people on the list Spitfire, you won't like it." Yui had finished downloading all the information from the computers and was now going through all of it.

"Well?"

"The other targets, they're the Commanders of the other NERV branches."

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"What the fuck do you mean we lost contact with the Tanaka?!" A vein threatened to burst in Gehlen's forehead.

"I'm sorry sir, but we have not been able to get in touch with Sargent Tanaka." Mao stood firm, knowing from experience that if he moved he would likely be shot, the stitches from the last time had just come out after all. "Were trying to get back in contact now, but so far have had no luck."

Gehlen massaged his temples, biting down the urge to pistol whip the Chinese man before his desk. Everything was supposed to go like a wet dream. Start out nicely, get better as it went and have a messy pay-off at the end.

They had some advance information about the bounty hunt from their friend in SEELE before it was officially announced. Spending months setting up a F.O.B in Tokyo-3 and near the other NERV bases across the world and as soon as the hunt started they made their move, succeeding in all theatres except the German base.

Those two women were the cause of all his problems, almost like they were cursed or something.

"List them as dead. If we lost contact then that means they were found by NERV and most likely killed."

"Are you sure sir?"

"Yes. How long until out other teams arrive in T-3?"

"They should be landing within thirty minutes."

"Order them to take recon positions around the captured F.O.B. I want confirmation about what's happened there."

"I will do it now sir." Mao turned to leave, reaching for the door handle before Gehlen stopped him.

"And Mao, if you ever question my orders again you'll lose your other ear."

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"Hello...whats happening here." Akira Kikuchi observed from the shadows as four vans pulled into the garage, stopping in front of the elevator before two dozen men in full tactical gear spilled out of the backs and made their way to the elevators.

Akira leaned out a bit further, catching a glimpse of the patch on one of the soldiers.

_'What the hell?'_

_Click._

Akira froze, letting his pistol hang limply from his thumb as he turned around to find one of the soldiers aiming an XM8 rifle at the agent's head. The patch on the soldier's arm was the same as the others, words inscribed under the picture of an eye, similar to the Eye of Ra.

'Asun Calen Tohr.'

Merriment danced in the soldier's eyes as he pulled the trigger.

**Bang!**

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"Wait, isn't this Ikari guy supposed to be dead? Then why is he on the list then?" Guardian remembered the news report from a few years ago, a national broadcasting of Shinji Ikari's funeral.

"No, Ikari-kun is not dead." The way in which Rei said it immediately made the others pause for a moment. "His body was never found."

"So he was declared dead without there being any _real_ confirmation?" Hikari glanced over at Anubis.

"The people bankrolling this hunt must be seriously paranoid, or seriously pissed at this Ikari guy." Smoke flipped through some of the loose papers, finding nothing of value.

"Yeah."

"So why go after the NERV commanders? ...Ah I get it now. These two," Guardian pointed at Kaoru and Shinji's picture, "used to work for NERV right?"

"Yeah they both did. I even knew Shinji a while I was in school."

"I see where your going now. You think they went after them in-case they had any information on Ikari's and Nagisa's whereabouts?"

"Only way I can see to justify grabbing every commander alive."

"_Er...guys?"_ Keys voice broke their conversation, Hawk passed by the office door, checking to see if anyone was coming.

"What is it Keys?" Hikari pushed her headset into her ear while idly brushing at some blood on her blouse.

"_Did NERV send anyone else to back us up?"_

Hikari frowned. Misato wasn't supposed to send anyone else to aid them was she?

"Not that I know of, why?"

"_Because the cameras just caught sight of a shitload of people getting off the elevators on your floor and it looks like their geared up for World War Three!"_

The Jackals turned to face the entrance they had used no more than ten minutes ago.

Hawk spun around, yelling something about more soldie-

**Blam!**

Hawk was thrown forwards by the shotgun blast, her limp body slamming into the makeshift barricade around the centre of the room, around the electronics.

Anubis wasted no time as he dived forwards grabbed the neck of Hawk's jacket and in one powerful motion lifted the woman into the war and over the barricade just as a dozen soldiers stormed the room. Each soldier moved for their own cover, some using their own bullet-proof shields as they took turns firing at the Jackals, effectively pining them.

Guardian barely managed to drag Rei and Hikari to the ground before gunfire tore apart the surveilance equipment they were standing next to.

Before they hit the ground, Guardian caught sight of a patch on the soldier's arms.

An eye, with the words 'Asun Calen Tohr' stitched underneath.

* * *

**AN:** Read, review, reheat and re-awaken my young padawan.......god that joke is getting old now.

As I say every chapter and must be annoying you, REVIEW DANGIT, I have a car, a cheesegrater and a ticket to disneyland, do not tempt me. :P

I feel as though the dialogue was a little....stale I think is the best word in this chapter, I'll have to do some more work on that I think.

Anubis' eyes......hmm....what's with them I wonder? Something for all of you to think on, be interesting if anyone figures it out. Though I bet someone will, just to screw with my piss-poor parade.

If you spot continuity, grammer or spelling errors, plotholes of the ever elusive african coconut swallow then let me know and I'll fix, plug or shoot down the refered object.

Contact details on profile, and I still can't find that damnable story, can anybody help? I'll cry otherwise......

Quote time, although who I'm quoting I do not know....meh

_If I had a dollar for every smart thing that I did....I'd be in eternal debt.  
_

Not really funny...but my brain is fried....perhaps a joke next chapter? Thoughts?

Next chapter should...I SAY SHOULD be up before christmas, failing that it will most likely be a day or 2 after.

I have just realised something drastically important.

This story is going to be freaking huge if I keep writing it this way.....


	6. Chapter 6

**AN:** Sorry for the delay, normally this is the bit where the author would write about why it took them longer than normal to update, but none of you will be interested in that so lets sum it up to shit happens.

Firstly I'm not as happy with this chapter as I am with the others, but this is a different style of planning the chapter (or in this particular case, none at all) so meh, as I said in the last few the style is more than likely going to change...alot...as I get used to writing again and gain more experience. That being said reviews are a writers best friend (second to coffee), so write lots of them m'kay? M'kay.

Please note this story has had 800 hits...yet only 8 reviews............get the picture? Good, because I'd much rather eat this lettuce than use it in a rather unspecified manner not suitable for young vegetables.

**Risuzu:** Oh so close, but oh so wrong in regards to Anubis' identity, thanks for the review though, hopefully I'll be able to keep you and everyone else interested ^_^

**Sithy:** Ahh thats much easier than the full name :P can't tell you if there's any more crashers, sorry :P

As for Rei not saying anything about the popped nagi, I'll be honest....slipped my mind entirely. Thanks for pointing that out so now I'll (if I remember, damned post-its) be including a story about that later on...i hope.

As for your guess to Anubis, same with Risuzu, oh so close, yet oh so wrong, if you have anymore guesses pm them to me, I'm under the impression that your rather...sharp about these things so don't ruin the story for the others :P (especially me, i'm eager to see how I end this thing :P) As for the platinum cards on spares.....you have given me an idea for another story......YAY

As for your last statement about being called Sithy.....do darklords even have hearts?

More notes at the bottom of the chapter as well as a request ^_^

If you spot any spelling, grammatical, plotholes or other errors then let me know so I can fix it up! ^_^

* * *

Akira Kikuchi froze as he gazed at the soldier with an XM8 assault rifle aimed at his head. The soldier grinned beneath his balaclava, his finger squeezing the trigger.

**Bang!**

A few moment passed before Akira opened his eyes just in time to see the soldier fall forward, the right side of his head blasted open!

Whipping his pistol up Akira swung in a wide but fast arc, his mind furiously trying to figure out what the hell had happened. That was until he saw her.

Standing just behind one of the support pillars was Mana, a smoking 10-Gauge shotgun hanging at her side.

"Well, looks like you owe me now suit-boy." Mana slipped the saw-off shotgun back into her thigh holster as she moved towards Akira, offering him a hand up.

"Meh, I could have handled it."

"Of course you could, I'm sure NERV can make wonderful replacement faces for you guys now. Right?"

"...Shut up."

"Come on, the shits hitting the fan and we need to help out the others."

"I've only known you lot for a few hours and from what I can tell the question that I should be asking is, when doesn't the shit hit the fan?" Akira jogged beside Mana, his pistol held in front of him as he followed her lead back into the basement levels of the Sukitori Tower.

"You know, now that I think about it, shit just seems to follow us no matter where we go, I remember this one time in the shopping mall-"

"-Lets just call it a rhetorical question."

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

Upstairs, with Rei and the rest of the Jackals the situation went from 'walk in the park' to 'bat-shit insane'.

Bullets, curses, blood and even the occasional knife flew through the air as the Jackals defended themselves against the onslaught of the Clan of Prophets.

The Clan was ruthless and efficient in their storming tactics. Charging into the room with their guns blazing, they managed to strike down one of the Jackals and get into cover before Rei and the others were able to retaliate with their own gunfire, covering Anubis as he grabbed a hold of Hawk and dragged her limp body over the hastily erected barricade.

"Well, I think I'll be the first to admit that were fucked!" Guardian fire a few rounds at the Clan before their overwhelming numbers and concentrated fire forced him to take cover again.

"Grenade!" Hikari yelled, watching with horror as the small green object rolled through the air towards them.

**BOOM!**

Burning steel fragments blasted throughout the office, slamming into the barricades and shredding one of the Clan to shreds. Guardian couldn't help but smirk at his well placed shot.

"You know, this feels really familiar." Smoke yelled above the gunfire as she pulled her own grenade out and lobbed it over the barricade.

"I'm trying to figure out whether your being a smart-ass or if your serious." Guardian ducked lightly as the barricade shuddered under Smoke's grenade detonation.

"Rei! How's Hawk doing?" Hikari popped her own rifle out of cover and sprayed the other side of the room with gunfire, a satisfying scream signalling that she scored a decent hit.

Rei for the moment was going over Hawk's wounds while Anubis covered her. Hawk was the closest to the door when the proverbial shit hit the fan and thus suffered the brunt of the attack. With twin gunshots to her left arm and a shotgun blast to the stomach oozing out thick murky blood Rei was amazed that Hawk's heart was still beating.

"Without immediate medical attention Hawk will expire." Rei looked up at Anubis and felt her soul chill at the man's gaze, even behind his newly replaced glasses.

"Dammit!"

The Clan continued to fire at them, effectively pinning them down in the middle of the room.

_'Something is wrong...We are outnumbered, out-gunned and left with nowhere to go. Yet they are not pushing the advantage...why?'_ Rei finished dressing Hawk's wounds and grabbed her sub-machine gun while analysing the situation.

She looked around at her fellow combatants, watching as they traded fire with the enemy and lobbed the occasional grenade at each other. Her gaze continued to sweep over their side of the office until something at the window caught her eye.

Ropes.

Moving ropes.

_'Oh...shit.'_

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

With the sudden blitzkrieg from the Jackals and then the Clan of Prophets the Intercontinental Guard was like a snake with its head ripped off.

Broken but still thrashing.

Akira and Mana dropped two more bounty hunters before they finally met up with Keys, who was finishing loading a new magazine into her KEL-TEC, blood dribbling from the graze under her left eye.

"And here I thought I was going to have to do it all myself...again." Keys moved over to Akira and Mana, her eyes flicking left and right as she kept alert for more threats.

"Can't let you have all the fun." Akira locked a fresh mag into his stolen rifle.

Mana and Keys looked at the young Sect-2 man, an amused expression passing over their features.

"We've known him for what...Two hours? And he's already becoming corrupted." Mana slammed her boot down onto a groaning man's throat, effectively silencing him.

"He used to be such a nice boy to."

"Screw you two." Akira smirked as Mana shook her foot, trying to dislodge a piece of flesh from the toe. "So what's happening upstairs?"

"No idea, last thing I saw on the camera's was a shit-load of militants charging into the ex-IG office. Then some idiot was thoughtful enough to throw a grenade into the room." Keys grimaced at the burnt hair clinging to her forehead.

"So someone's crashing our party again."

"Pretty much."

"Wait, aren't you two worried about the others?" Akira looked back and forth between the two Jackals.

The smile the pair offered him unnerved the agent to no end.

"Not really. This sort of thing happens to us a lot unfortunately. Still, do you think we should help them?" Mana looked over to Keys.

"Yeah we probably should...wait, wasn't it Mum's period today?"

"Ooo yeah..." Mana examined the corpse by her foot, most of the gunshots had hit him in the head. "We should take their armour."

"Definitely, I've still got the bruise from last time."

Akira looked back and forth between the two, obviously lost on some sort of inside joke.

The three of them looked up as a muffled boom rang out, dust falling from the ceiling as the building shook.

"The hell was that?"

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"What the hell do you mean the MAGI authorised it?!" The fact that Maya didn't flinch under Asuka's screeching was a firm testament to her character...or she was just used to it.

"As far as I can tell the MAGI did it by themselves, there is no record of anyone using any of the terminals to input the command." Mana read and re-read the screen in front of her, even with her experience in dealing with the super-computer this is the first time it acted on its own accord.

"Well what did they do, exactly?" Asuka rubbed her temples in a vain attempt to contain her anger.

"They cleared access to the surface as well as re-supplying them."

"Gott dammit, do we know where they're going?"

"Their going to Sukitori Tower Sub-Commander." The hologram of Yui flashed into existence in the darkened command bridge.

"This is your doing isn't it?!" Asuka jabbed a finger at the hologram.

"Fraid not. She did this herself." Yui looked down at the MAGI housing.

_'She? Where the hell is Ritsuko when you need her?' _Misato assessed the situation. Thirty minutes since the last check-in from Rei and reports of disturbances at the Sukitori tower, _'and now this happens...what the hell else could happen?'_

"Ma'am, I've got Yoko Kanzaki requesting to speak with you in regards to the recent NERV attacks and the SEELE council." Aoba called out, ignoring the glaring between the Sub-Commander and the hologram.

_'I had to ask.'_ "I'll take it in my office, Asuka you have Command." Misato left her perch and made her way to her office.

"Sub-Commander, what do you want to do about those two?" Makoto kept his eye on the two green blips on his screen.

Asuka glared at the Yui hologram.

"No, leave them alone. Now someone figure out a way to get more information on the verdamnt situation!"

The hologram of Yui grinned before disappearing once again to debate with the MAGI.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

While all of the activity was happening on the Command bridge Dr Akagi was left with her own crisis to deal with.

"Hello? Anybody?" Nothing but silence greeted her voice. "Is anyone there? I could really use some more toilet paper here."

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

**BOOM!**

The office room shook violently as the a section of the office where the Clan was taking cover was blown apart from a rocket.

"The hell was that?" Guardian was the first to recover and the first to push the advantage and fire at his enemies, dropping three of them.

"Fuck yeah! Frag out!" Anubis dropped the spent RPG launcher he picked up from the corpse of an IG hunter and tossed a grenade over the barricade, watching it bounce behind the Clan's own barricade before dropping behind his overturned desk. A series of screams were heard before the grenade detonated, turning another four people into hamburger.

_'For once can't we just go somewhere without one of these idiots blowing things up?!'_

Hikari looked over to Rei who was checking to make sure no glass got caught in Hawk's wounds. Movement outside the window caught her attention, turning her head to look she froze, her eyes widening at the sight before her.

There, supported by abseiling ropes hung four Militants, each with their guns up!

She looked at their uncovered faces, an expression of sheer delight of having caught their prey unaware twisting her stomach.

The four soldiers took aim while still hanging, their fingers tensed on the triggers of their rifles.

Hikari didn't bother trying to warn the others, knowing that there wouldn't be enough time.

She close her eyes and waited for death to finally claim her.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"WHAT?!" Misato jumped from her chair, a coffee mug rolling of the table and smashing onto the ground.

"I'm forwarding you the files right now." Kanzaki could be seen tapping a few keys on her computer through the wall-mounted screen in Misato's office.

The terminal on the table beeped, signalling the completed transfer. Misato wasted no time in opening the files and examining the contents, shock and horror fighting for control over her face.

"As you can see, the Angel Wars were just the beginning. Now we have to face the next test of humanity."

"Have to face? What if we choose to ignore it?" Misato knew that it couldn't be ignored, but it never hurt to ask.

"Then everything will be reset. _Again_."

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"Sub-Commander! I'm getting telemetry from the two Ghosts!" Maya called out, her fingers dancing over the keyboard.

"What sort of telemetry?" Asuka leaned over the technicians shoulder.

"Video. I'm patching it through now." The massive holographic screen at the other end of the command room flared to life and two images appeared side by side, both showing the same thing from slightly different angles.

Asuka was transfixed on the two video-feeds showing the city-scape of Tokyo-3 whipping past, occasionally rolling to move around many of the city's skyscrapers.

The speed of the video slowed as the two feeds showed the Sukitori Tower, each moving fairly close to the glass walled building before beginning to climb into the air.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

Hikari shuddered at the sound of gunfire coming from the window, her body jerking slightly as she expected to be hit.

Several moments passed and Hikari was confused. She saw the militants and heard their gunfire so why wasn't she dead?

Perhaps she was dead and this was heaven. Or hell, or even the fields of Elysium.

But since when did the afterlife have such a deafening roar...?

Opening her eyes Hikari was treated to a view of the backs of the abseiling militants, all four of them facing in opposite direction to her and firing outside. It was then she noticed the shapes, two massive, black shapes hovering in the air.

The two VTOL's they had arrived at Japan on.

The Ghosts.

The two Ghosts hung in the air for a few seconds before sliding away from each other slightly, it only took a second for Hikari and the rest of the Jackals to realise what was about to happen, each of them diving for the floor, Anubis pulling Rei down with him.

_Vmmm._

Thousands of hyper-velocity bullets spewed out of the forward mounted mini-guns, shredding the would-be flankers and flying just above the Jackals before slamming into the Clan's barricade. Ten more of the Clan's soldiers crumpled under the weight of the fire as those fast enough took cover outside the office or behind the concrete support pillars.

The Clan was now down to eleven militants.

Both VTOL's stopped firing and backed away from the tower, each taking up a slow circle around it, their gun's constantly aimed at the glass windows.

With the distraction gone and death missing its chance yet again, Anubis pushed their advantage and charged forward, dropping the two militants behind the support beams before slamming into the door frame, Hikari and Rei joined him on the other side. Guardian crouched near Hawk, providing protection for the unconscious Jackal.

Hikari gave hand signals to the two next to her, each of them nodding as acknowledgement.

As one the three of them charged out of the door way, each facing in different directions with their fingers poised on the trigger.

Nothing.

The entire balcony was empty save them and several bodies.

"They're running?" Anubis kicked several of the bodies, ensuring their lifelessness.

"It is a valid tactic when faced with superior fire-power." Rei wiped some blood from her face.

"I'm not so sure." Hikari pulled a band out of her pocket and wrapped it around her throat while dropping a small piece of plastic in her ear. "Keys, Mana, you there?"

Static.

"Keys? Mana?"

Gunshots and the gurgled cries of a man dying came through the earpiece.

"_Hey Mum, you guys ok?"_ Mana answered, Keys could be hard faintly yelling in the background.

"For now, what's your situation?"

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"Well were a little stuck at the moment." Mana ducked as a bullet snapped into the door she was taking cover behind, Akira and Keys were holed up behind a thick desk. 'Damn opulent lemmings.'

They were on their way up to meet the rest of the Jackals via the staircase before they came across a dead-end and had to dart across the floor to the other staircase. As soon as they opened the stairwell door they were greeted to the sight of six plain-clothed IG fighting a four man team of militants, their arm patches labelling them as Clan soldiers.

So they were left with a choice:

Either barge in on the fight, or take the elevator up. Or as Mana put it, "Crash this party or ride the death-box?"

Which led to the situation they were in now, a three sided battle with everyone shooting at everyone else. Mana could almost imagine Spitfire shaking her head as she relayed this to her.

"What about you guys?" Mana watched as Keys lobbed a grenade over her cover, the small ball of ball of explosive cheese-grater landing just behind the militant barricade. Mana could only wince as she watched on of the militants scramble to pick up the grenade and poise it above his head to throw back just for it to detonate in his hand.

The militants were finished in this skirmish.

"_Were all wounded one way or another, Hawk took a scattergun blast to the gut though."_

"Shit! Akira, throw it the fuck back!" Keys fired a few bursts, forcing the IG hunters to take cover as Akira tossed their own grenade back at them. It detonated halfway their, shrapnel spraying across the room.

"_Anubis just checked the gear of the party-crashers. Its the Clan of Prophets."_ Hikari could be heard talking to someone else in the background, presumably Anubis.

"The hell are those fanatics doing here?" Mana's eyebrows knitted together, it just wasn't normal for the 'fanatics' to travel this far out of Europe. "Just what the hell is happening Spitfire?"

"_We'll figure that out later. For now I want you and the others to make your way to the roof, were evac'ing with the Ghosts."_

"Copy, making our way to the roof."

"_Be cautious, we have several hostiles unaccounted for and no idea as to how many they started with."_

"God damn it, now I have to clean up your mess?! I better get some decent pocket money for this Mum!"

"_I am going to fillet you when I see-"_

"-busy, gotta go. Bye Mum!" Mana switched of her radio just as Keys and Akira finished off the last of the bounty hunters. All three turned looked up and watched as an office desk tumbled down the open air in the middle of the building, whipping past the trio before slamming into the broken bodies of a bounty hunter and a civilian, the bloodied tag on his body labelled him as Jonas.

"Yeah...Mum's pissed."

"What gave you that idea?" Keys peered over the railing at the freshly made homosapien pancake.

"You know she's going to be just as pissed at you." Mana shot back.

"Nah, I'll just tell her you forced me, worked last time."

"Last time...Why you little!" Mana chased after Keys in the direction of the stairwell.

Akira groaned and palmed his face. They were on the tenth floor and had to get to the roof, a good fifty five floors above them, and they couldn't take the elevator because it was too risky. You might get trapped, the cables cut or ambushed as soon as the doors opened, thus why it was nicknamed the Death-box by the Jackals.

Akira glared at the two ladies in front of him, still arguing as they climbed the stairs. _'They're like a couple of high school girls...and where the hell do they get all of this energy from?'_

"What about the time I caught you in Anubis' room trying to grab his-" Keys smirked at the look of horror spreading on Mana's face.

"-Shut up! Besides what about that incident between you and him when we were in the Congo?" Mana grinned like a cat as Keys sputtered a retort.

"Forty eight floors to go, just forty eight more stories...Why did the Major have to bring me along, I've been a good worker, never killed anyone who didn't deserve it, so why must she torture me so?" Akira's mumbling went unheard by the two Jackals.

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

Widow sat by herself in the cabin of a Lear Jet, reading over some of the files she had been given in regards to her new orders.

Apparently their competitors had known the location of the second temple for some time so they were well fortified. Satellite images of tanks and other pieces of heavy hardware were scattered across the desk. Two things were common in all the pictures.

The Insignia for the Clan of Prophets.

The second thing in common? Sand.

In all the photos there was nothing but sand and ruins on all sides of the subjects.

Helen grinned, normally the fact that their enemy was better prepared, equipped and had a lot more time to plan than you did would make even the hardest of field commanders nervous.

Helen however was not, in fact quite the opposite. She looked forward to a hard fight against the fanatics. It would give her the opportunity to show them that they really were just children trying to play at the adult table.

The door to the cabin opened and a young stewardess entered, a silver tray with a glass of whiskey held in her hands. The stewardess placed the drink down in front of Matsumoto before retreating to the back of the plane to prepare some food for the pilots.

The trip to the Sahara was going to take another four hours, and having already gone through the briefing materials three times Helen found herself bored.

Her gaze fell on the stewardess, looking her up and down before a grin that belonged on the cat who ate the canary spread on her face.

_'I think the pilots can last a little longer without food.'_

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"Could you repeat that? Because you couldn't have said what I thought you did." Gehlen leaned forward, glaring at Mao.

"Teams 38 and 71 have both reported sighting two unmarked VTOL's circling the F.O.B in Tokyo-3." Mao leaned forward and handed a photo to Gehlen, he didn't flinch as the paper was snatched away.

The photo showed the two VTOL's firing into the F.O.B with hundreds of spent ammo cases falling to the ground.

"What model are they?" Gehlen tossed the photo onto his desk before levelling his glare at the Chinese man in front of him.

"They don't match anything we have on record, nor anything on the British Government's record either."

_'Fuck, those women are cursed after all dammit!'_ Gehlen's right eyebrow twitched.

"Sir?"

"Tell the assault teams to go to safe house 12 and await further orders." Gehlen watched as Mao left his office before jamming his finger on the intercom switch. "Get me Misha."

Several minutes later the tall Russian man, Misha opened the door to Gehlen's office.

"Misha, how did your...conference with Kono's brother go?"

"Not as I had hoped, he was rather persistent on his desire to keep all of his fingers attached." Misha's lip ticked slightly, the man barely restraining a sadistic smile from spreading on his face.

"Well...you certainly were creative when you stapled his fingers back on for him. But enough of this for now, I need you to go to Japan."

"Japan sir?"

"Yes, I want you to go and take command of two of our assault teams there, then figure out a way for us to get the heads of the three NERV women."

"When do I leave sir?"

"Right now."

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

"Are we there yet?" Guardian huffed, sweat dripping down his face as he and the others jogged up the stairs.

"Smoke?" Hikari puffed out.

"Yeah Spitfire?"

"When we get to the roof I want you to pistol whip Guardian. Twice."

Lagging behind the other three was Anubis with Hawk in his arms and Rei keeping pace beside him. They were on the sixtieth floor and so far had only run into three more of the Clan. Mana, Keys and Akira were ten floors below them, having ridden the death-box up several stories.

"Yui, have you found the others yet?" Hikari tapped her throat microphone.

"_Not yet, I've got Ghost 2 searching the building floor by floor, top down but so far it hasn't spotted anything other than a few civilians. Still unable to get a connection to the security camera's either and the outdoor camera's have recorded nothing entering or leaving the building other than registered office workers."_

"So what the hell are they up to then?" Hikari came up to the roof access door and stopped, letting her breath catch up again.

"_I don't know Spitfire, the MAGI still hasn't made a decision either. I'm sending Ghost-2 to the roof to pick you up, NERV enforcer squads are en-route to the building now."_

"Is Ghost-1 reporting anything on the roof?" Hikari glanced down the stair well, one level below her she saw Anubis, Hawk and Rei, six floors below them she could see and hear the other three people they came with.

"_Ghost-1 reports no hostiles on the roof with Ghost-2 confirming."_

When Mana and the others finally caught up they were treated to the sight of Smoke pistol whipping Guardian, twice. Keys checked on Hawk as soon as she got her breath back while Akira stood next to Rei.

"All good?" The others nodded.

The door to the roof opened with a bang and the Jackals moved through, guns up and eyes scanning the roof just to be certain no one was hiding anywhere. With the signal of all clear the group moved towards the helipad while one of the circling VTOL's, Ghost-1, came in and lightly touched down on the concrete, kicking up torrents of air as it descended.

Hikari and Guardian crouched and pointed their guns towards the roof's only access point while Akira and Mana got into the VTOL with Smoke and Rei helping Anubis get the unconscious Hawk laid down on one of long seats. As soon as the injured woman was placed down Smoke went to work and started treating Hawk's wounds.

Each ARCOM Ghost VTOL has the capacity to hold six people in the cabin and one more in the pilot's chair. Ghost-1 however would only be able to carry four as Hawk was stretched out across one row of seats, the others would have to ride in Ghost-2.

With its belly now full Ghost-1 lifted off and swapped positions with Ghost-2, slowly circling the rooftop while its partner touched down. The reason for this was simple. If both VTOL's touched down at once then they would be an easy, immobile target. However if one of them was always in the air then they would be able to provide protection for other grounded VTOL.

**BOOM!**

The entire building shuddered, hundreds of windows shattering as the force from an explosion rippled through the structure.

The Jackals were knocked to their feet, the tower beginning to lurch as two more explosion rocked it.

The same thought passed through all their minds at once.

_'Its collapsing!'_

Scrambling to their feet the four ran towards the VTOL, barely keeping their balance as two more explosion rang out, billowing smoke visible from over the edge of the rooftop.

Hikari and Guardian were the first ones to the VTOL, diving in just as the entire building started to tip over!

_'Fuck! Were not going to make it!'_ Anubis pushed himself towards Ghost-2, now hovering slightly in the air to avoid being jerked around by the building.

Another explosion, the biggest one yet ripped away final support of the building and for Anubis and Rei, the entire world tilted as the Sukitori Office tower began to collapse.

Ghost-2 hovered in the air, Hikari and Guardian yelling at the remaining two Jackals to get a move on. Rei was just a few feet away from the hovering VTOL ramp when she lost her balance as the building lurched again.

The bluette's eyes widened as she started to slide towards the edge of the rooftop, before she could slide more than a few inches Anubis had already grabbed her collar and roughly pulled her to her feet. Using his good arm he thrusted Rei towards the ramp where Guardian caught and dragged her into the VTOL.

Anubis reached for Hikari's outstretched hand, his fingers about to wrap around hers-

-just as the tilting building picked up speed, his hand missing Hikari's by several feet!

Ghost-2 was forced to ascend in order to avoid being taken down with the crumbling tower, the rear ramp was open as it climbed into the sky.

Hikari screamed as she watched Anubis slide down the rooftop and fly into the open air before losing sight of him altogether. Guardian swore as he closed the ramp, his eyes locked onto Hikari to make sure she didn't try anything foolish.

Rei stood there, gazing at the place where she had last seen Anubis, a mix of emotions rolling through her mind, one emotion however was roaring louder than all of the others combined.

_'Why do I feel as though I have lost something...again?'_

(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)

To say that Daniel Gribs was pissed would be like saying that the ocean is wet. Papers were scattered everywhere and pieces of a keyboard were lodged in the ceiling.

"LYRA!"

"Yes High Priest?" Lyra entered the office, casually avoiding the mess.

"What is the definition of collateral damage?" Gladiator forced himself to calm down, an emotional man was a foolish man.

"Collateral Damage: any damage incidental to an activity, or the killing of civilians during a military attack." Lyra glanced at the keys embedded in the ceiling and started to wonder whether teeth would be the same.

"Right, so could you please explain to me why in the Messiah's name is half of Tokyo-3 destroyed?!" Gribs pointed to a lone report on his desk, detailing the destruction of the Sukitori tower and the loss of the Inquisition teams.

"They were met with an unexpected force."

"I gathered that! Who are they?!"

"The Private Military Company, ARCOM."

"Those dogs?! What the hell are they doing in Tokyo-3?!" Gribs massaged his temples, resisting the urge to pull out his pistol and shoot Lyra right then and there.

"We cannot say for certain, but we believe that they are going after the Chosen ones." Lyra fingered her knife, she remembered a along time ago when she went to school that her biology teacher said that human blood was originally blue until exposed to oxygen, she began to think whether or not she would be able to move fast enough to spot the blue before it turned crimson.

"They're going after the Chosen? They can't possibly know their true importance, so the only other thing it could be is that they're going for the price on the girl's heads." Gladiator went to the bar in the office and poured himself a scotch. "Have we found the remaining three Chosen yet?"

"We have found a suitable replacement for the fourth, High Priest. However the Third and Fifth still elude us." Lyra handed a small polaroid of a girl in her late mid teens with brown hair and an athletic figure to Daniel. "We have already sent a team to locate and retrieve her."

"Good, we must get the chosen before SEELE can, our entire mission rests upon getting them. I want you to go with the teams to retrieve the girl."

Lyra's head snapped towards Daniel, her icy gaze locking onto his impassive eyes. A few moments of silence passed until Lyra gave a soft, sadistic smile.

"But show restraint, we need the Chosen ones alive."

"As you wish High Priest." Lyra about-faced and left the office, the smile never leaving her face.

Gladiator slumped down onto his chair, ignoring the_ 'tack'_ as a plastic key fell from the ceiling.

_'We have the second Shrine, are poised to take the first from the old men before the first Trial needs to be completed and are set up to storm and take control of the other Shrines once we have their location. As well as soon to get our hands on one of the Chosen mentioned in the scrolls.'_

Gribs picked the polaroid up from his desk, examining the soft features of the photo's subject before his eyes flicked down to the handwriting underneath.

The girl's name.

Mari Suzuhara.

* * *

**AN2:**

Read, review, comment, criticise, embalm and mummify!

for those that haven't looked them up, KEL-TEC is a company that makes collapsible sub-machine guns, which I thought would be perfect for civvy clothes. Thanks to Mister Cynical's 'Detective Ikari' story for that idea ^_^ If you haven't read any of his stuff then you should, its all damn good and some of its pretty hilarious!

Keep an eye on my profile for more information on my stories as I often update it with the status.

Speaking of stories, I need help from someone of the audience. I'm planning on writing a humor story, but I want to make things a little more interesting. So those interested could you either leave in your review, or preferably pm me a list of six random things to be used in the (humor) story somehow?

**EG:** Bananas, Argentina, Seals, Vending Machine, George Clooney Bobblehead, A dancing potato.

Dont care how crazy or out-there they are, anything works and will be an interesting challenge me thinks.

Hmm what else. Oh yes.

Planning to put up a new story (serious) in the next week or so, so if you like this story then keep an eye on my profile!

I think thats everything. Thanks to my Reviewers! Always interesting to read what people think of my rather obscured machinations.

Remember, I update my profile regularly with story update information.

Oh yeah, do you guys think I should start writing omakes for each chapter? I'm tempted to, but not sure if my sense of humor is.....decent?

If you wish to discourse then email me, pm me or use dark ritual 15 on the voodoo doll.

~Pseudo


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